JOURNALISM OF COURAGE

SINCE 1932

BUSINESS AS USUAL

BYUNNY

DA ILY FROM: AHMEDABAD , CHAND IGARH , DELH I , JA IPUR , KOLKATA , LUCKNOW, MUMBAI , NAGPUR , PUNE , VADODARA

THURSDAY, JULY 9, 2020, JAIPUR, LATE CITY, 10 PAGES `5.00 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

SHYAMLALYADAVNEWDELHI, JULY8

FACINGAwave of domestic de-mand, manufacturers havestoppeditsexport.States,hospi-talsandevenresidentialsocietiesaresnapping itup.Andnow,ex-pertsarewarningagainst itsusewithoutmedical supervision.Fromcylinderstoconcentra-

tors, the demand for medicaloxygenhas shotupever since itemergedasakeyelementinthetreatment of Covid, saymanu-facturers, doctors and top gov-ernmentofficials.At themoment, “much less

than 10 per cent of Covid pa-tients require oxygen”, saysGuruprasad Mohapatra,Secretary, Department forPromotion of Industry andInternalTrade,whoalsoheadsaCentral panel thatmonitors thesupply of medical oxygen forCovid treatment countrywide.And yet, demand continues

to spike as state governmentsbrace for a surge in cases.Consider this:

■Nearly5lakhmedicaloxy-gen cylinders are currently inuse.

■ Daily requirement isaround 1,300 tonnes, up from900tonnes inDecember.

■ In May alone, as Covidcasessurged, theCentrebought1.03 lakhcylinders.Mohapatra says the govern-

ment has also allowed the con-version of nearly 5 lakh indus-trial oxygen cylinders formedicaluse.While cylinders need refills,

concentrators tap oxygen fromtheatmosphere.Andamongthestates liningupforbothisDelhi,withoveralakhcases.“Wehaveordered 11,000 cylinders and4,580 concentrators, andmorethan50percentofthemhavear-rived,” says Sanjay Goel, MD,DelhiTourism&TransportationDevelopment Corporation, and

in-chargeofCovidprocurement.“Oxygenrequirementfor in-

door patients has increased

nearly five-fold from normaldays,” says S N Vasna, who is incharge of procurement at LNJP

Hospital. “We have 2,000 bedsand only 20 per cent of themneed oxygen on normal days.Butnow,wehavelinkedallbedswithoxygensupply,”hesays.UPisnotfarbehind,withthe

stateprocuring6,000newcylin-ders fromtheCentreandaskingfor 10,000more -- separately, ithas purchased nearly 2,000cylinders.“Sofar, lessthanthreepercentofactivecasesneedoxy-gen support. Butwewant to beprepared,” says A K Sriwastava,Nodal Covid Officer in the statethathasrecordednearly30,000cases so far.Then, there's the Railways,

whichhasconvertedover5,231

coaches into isolation centres.“Eachcoachhas16bedsandtwocylinders. The number of cylin-derscanbeenhancedif theneedarises," says D J Narain,spokesperson.“Earlier,anestimated250-300

concentratorswere sold everymonth,andcertainmodelswereavailable for aroundRs 25,000-30,000.Now,about40,000piecesof thesemodels are being soldeverymonthwith rates up toRs75,000.Therentalratesofconcen-trators have also gone up fromabout Rs 4,500 permonth to Rs6,000,”sayindustrysources.The sources, however, warn

that “while thereare strict rules

formanufacturing, pricing andstorage of cylinders, themarketfor concentrators is largely un-controlledandunregulated”.OnJune 29, the NationalPharmaceutical PricingAuthority (NPPA) directed allmanufacturersandimportersofoxygenconcentratorstosubmittheMaximumRetailPrice(MRP)beingcharged.Major cylindermanufactur-

ers are also riding a surge inde-mand. VijayKrishnadas Parekh,Director, Al-Can Exports, whichisbasedinMumbaiandGujarat,says his firm manufacturesnearly 10,000 aluminium

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PAGE1ANCHOR

AnArmyconvoymovingtowardsLadakhontheManali-LehhighwayinKulludistrict,Wednesday.PTI

JOURNALISM OF COURAGESINCE 1932

DISENGAGEMENTSTRATEGYFIRMEDUP

Delhi’sapproach:Lowerrhetoric, putoffpatrols,keepeyeonfrictionspots

Keepingtroops indepthareas isalsopartof the four-prongedapproach

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JULY8

AS IT works with Beijing to re-duce tensions along the Line ofActual Control in Ladakh, NewDelhi has decided on a four-pronged disengagement ap-proach: lower the public rheto-ric, temporarily suspendpatrolling of buffer zones by ei-ther side,mount sustained sur-veillanceand reconnaissanceoffriction points, and keep ade-quatetroopsindepthareasuntiltheprocess is completed.This four-pillar approach,

which had been in the workssincetheJune24meetingof theWorking Mechanism forConsultation&CoordinationonIndia-China Border Affairs andthe June 30 meeting of CorpsCommanders on the two sides,was firmed up at a briefing byNational Security Advisor AjitDoval to Prime MinisterNarendra Modi following theSpecial Representative-level

talks with Chinese StateCouncillorandForeignMinisterWangYion July5.Besides the PrimeMinister

and the NSA, External AffairsMinister S Jaishankar, DefenceMinister Rajnath Singh andHomeMinisterAmitShahwereinstrumental in finalising thisapproach. It was done betweentheeveningof July5and theaf-ternoonof July6.The IndianExpresshasbeen

toldaboutthesefourapproachesto thedisengagementexercise:

■ Lower thepublic rhetoric,givesomediplomaticandconcil-iatory space to both sides for anhonourableexitfromtheimpasse.Thiswas reflected in the IndianstatementontheSR-leveltalks.Itdidnot raise the issueof GalwanValleynordidittalkabouttheat-mospherebeingvitiated–unlikethepreviousstatements.

■ Suspend patrolling tem-porarily,disengageandstepback1.5 km on each side. The bufferzone created reduces the

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MANISHSAHU&SAKSHIDAYALLUCKNOW,GURGAON, JULY8

FIVEDAYSaftereightpolicemenwerekilledduringafailedraidtocapturegangsterVikasDubeyinhis village near Kanpur, theSpecial Task Force (STF) of theUttar Pradesh Police gunneddown a close associate andbodyguardofthecriminal.VikasDubey himself remains ab-

sconding.Six other men – including

fourassociatesofVikasDubey's–andtwofemalerelativesof thegangster's associates, were ar-rested in three separate opera-tions in Kanpur and Faridabad,Haryana.Also onWednesday, Kanpur

Police arrested the former sta-tionofficerofChaubeypur,VinayTiwari, and Sub-InspectorKrishna Kumar Sharma onchargesof conspiracy.

ThereisevidencethatTiwariandSharmahadtippedoffVikasDubey about the police raid inhisvillage,Kanpurseniorsuper-intendent of police, DineshKumarP, said.The STF killed Amar Dubey,

the personal gunner of VikasDubey, in a jointoperationwithpoliceinHamirpurdistrictadja-cent to Kanpur early onWednesday.AmarDubeywasamongthe

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DEEPTIMANTIWARY&MANOJCGNEWDELHI, JULY8

THECENTREhassetupaninter-ministerial committee to“coor-dinate investigations” into thefunding of threeNehru-Gandhifamily linked trusts – the RajivGandhi Foundation (RGF), RajivGandhi Charitable Trust andIndiraGandhiMemorial Trust.This comes a fortnight after

theBJPallegedthat theRGFhadreceived funds from China to“conduct studies that are not inthe interestof thecountry”.Announcing the decision on

Wednesday, the Ministry of

Home Affairs said the commit-tee will “coordinate investiga-tionsintoviolationofvariousle-gal provisions of PMLA(Prevention of MoneyLaunderingAct), IncomeTaxAct,FCRA (Foreign ContributionRegulation Act) etc” by thesethreeorganisations.All the three organisations

are headed by Congress chiefSonia Gandhi. Former PrimeMinisterManmohan Singh andparty leaders P Chidambaram,Rahul Gandhi and PriyankaGandhi Vadra are among thetrusteesat theRGF.According tosources, the in-

ter-ministerial committee willCONTINUEDONPAGE2

Probe raps LG Polymers: False claims,no emergency plan and incompetenceSREENIVASJANYALAHYDERABAD, JULY8

■ Top officials of LG Polymersclaimed theypromptly reachedthe accident site but CCTVfootage showed they arrivedonlymore than twohours later.

■Thesurge inpolymercon-tent that set off the leakonMay7at2.42amhadalsohappened

barely10days earlier butno se-riousnotewas taken.

■ There was no onsite andoffsiteemergencyplan,theman-agement didn’t alert the localresidents andwashed its handsof the tragedy leaving thecleanupto theadministration.

■ Cost-cutting hurt talent;some staff classified as “engi-neersor seniorengineers”weremerelyClassXII graduates.

These are among the key in-dictments of LG Polymers atVisakhapatnamby the govern-ment-appointedprobe commit-tee probing the Styrene vapourleak thatkilled12 local residentsonMay7andaffectedalmost300.Thecommittee isheadedby

Special Chief Secretary(Environment, Forests, S&T),Neerabh Kumar Prasad.

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THECOVID-19outbreakforcedseveral schoolboards toabandontheirClass12examsmidway.This led toasituationwheresomehad finishedtheirpaperswhileothershadnot. The IIT rethinkonusingBoardmarkscomes inwakeof theun-evenreactionof differentBoards to thepandemic.

Fora levelplayingfieldE●EX

PLAINED

Police lookforarms inawellatDubey’svillage. PTI

Dubey aide killed, arrests across states

AtaCovidCareCentreinKhelGaon,Delhi.GajendraYadav

THECOVID

BUSINESSVENTILATORS TO TESTINGKITS,OXYGENSUPPLIES TOPPE

ANEXPRESSSERIESPART-2

SUSHANTSINGH,DEEPTIMANTIWARY&KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JULY8

CONTINUINGTHEslowprocessofdisengagementontheLineofActual Control, Chinese andIndian troops Wednesdaysteppedback fromanother fric-tionpointinLadakhasbothsidesprepared formoremeetings atthediplomaticandmilitary lev-els for the next steps to resolvetheborder situation.A senior Army officer told

The Indian Express that troopsfromboth sidesmoved back byaround 2 km from the standoffsite at PP15 in the Hot Springssector,after theremainingtentsthere were dismantled byChinesesoldiersandtakenbackinvehicles.A security establishment of-

ficer said the withdrawal wasdone according to the disen-gagementformulausedatPP14."The progress is good. Both

forcesaremovingbackwithve-hiclesandstructures.Thetargetwassetforthiseveninganditap-pears it is going to be achieved.A verification will happen to-morrowtocompletelyassesstheprogress," theofficer said.“Here too, the forces will

move back 1.8-2 km and thenfollowthe30-50formulaforas-sembly of soldiers further back.Therewill benopatrollinguntilfurtherorders.Theprogresshasbeen good since the SpecialRepresentative-level talks

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Troops stepback 2 km inHot Springs,Gogra next

RITIKACHOPRANEWDELHI, JULY8

WITH THE Covid-19 outbreakdisrupting Board exams acrossthecountry,theIndianInstitutesof Technology (IITs) are consid-eringdroppingtheClass12per-formance criterion for admis-sions thisyear.Usually, a general category

rank holder in JEE (Advanced)shouldhaveeitherscoredatleast75percentorfigureinthetop20percentileofherBoardresultstosecureaseatatanIIT.SC/STcan-didatesshouldhaveeitherscoredatleast65percentorfulfilthetop20percentilerequirement.Last month, key school

Boards, including CBSE andCISCE,cancelledtheirremainingClass 10 and Class 12 examsamidst growing concerns overstudent safety as many statescontinuetoreportarecordsurgein COVID19 positive cases onmostdays.The Boards subsequently

announced alternative evalua-tionmethodsfor theremainingexams.For instance,CBSE'sspe-cial marking scheme involvesawarding the averagemarks ofthebest-performingsubjects tothe scrappedexamination.ThedisruptionofClass12ex-

aminations was discussed at ameeting of the JointImplementation Committee(JIC)earlierthismonth.TheJICismade up of JEE chairpersons ofall IITs.During themeeting, the JEE

chairpersons proposed that theClass 12 criterion should bewaived for 2020 given that dif-ferent Boards have respondeddifferentlytotheCovidoutbreak."Therewasaconsensusthatthe

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Schools hit byCovid, IITs maywaive Boardmarks criteriafor admission

THEEDITORIALPAGE

DIGITISINGTHESTATEBY MANISHSABHARWAL&DBPHATAKPAGE6

SHUBHAJITROYNEWDELHI, JULY8

FORMER INDIAN Navy officialKulbushan Jadhav, who is ondeath row on charges of spyingand terrorist activities inPakistan, has refused to file anappeal in the Islamabad HighCourt (IHC) against his convic-tionbyamilitarycourt,Pakistangovernment saidWednesday.Hours later, Indiaresponded

sharplyandsaidPakistan’sclaimthat Jadhav has refused to initi-atereviewpetitionisa“continu-ationof the farce” inplay for thelast four years. “Pakistan is onlyseeking to create an illusion ofremedy,” the Ministry ofExternal Affairs (MEA) officialspokespersonAnuragSrivastavasaidWednesday.StressingthatJadhavhasbeen

sentencedtoexecutionthroughafarcical trial and remains undercustodyofPakistan’smilitary,theMEAspokesperson said, “Hehasclearly been coerced to refuse to

file a review in his case…. In abrazenattempttoscuttleeventheinadequate remedy under theOrdinance,PakistanhasobviouslycoercedJadhavtoforegohisrightstoseekanimplementationofthejudgment of the InternationalCourtof Justice(ICJ).”He said ICJ has already held

thatPakistanisinegregiousvio-lation of international law.“Governmentwill do itsutmosttoprotectShriJadhavandensurehis safe return to India. To thatend,itwouldconsiderallappro-priateoptions,”hesaid.Earlier in the day, in a press

conference in Islamabad,Pakistan’s Additional AttorneyGeneral Ahmed Irfan andPakistan Foreign Ministry’s

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

From govts to homes, Covid case spike lifts demand for oxygen

ManmohanSingh,Rahul,PriyankaareamongRGFtrustees

Govt sets up panel toprobe Rajiv GandhiFoundation, 2 trustsCongcallsmoveawitch-hunt,BJPsaysprobeanaturaloutcome

Truckscarrying itemsfromPriyankaGandhiVadra'sLodhiRoadhomeforSoniaGandhi's residenceat10 JanpathonWednesdayevening,asshevacates thehouseasper theorderof theMinistryofHousingandUrbanAffairs.Anil Sharma

128DAYSSINCEPANDEMICBEGAN

KEYSTATESTOWATCH■Maharashtra■Delhi■TamilNadu■Haryana■Telangana

7 DAYS EARLIER:

2.97NOW:

2.78

7 DAYS EARLIER:

6.63NOW:

7.09

DETECTED TODAY

22,752RECOVERED TODAY:

16,883

TOTALCASES2,17,1211,02,8311,18,59417,99927,612

DOUBLINGRATE**22.8630.5518.0323.329.25

SURGEIN24HOURS5,1342,0083,6164951,879

7-DAYAVGGROWTH*3.15%2.36%3.99%3.09%7.78%

TRACKING INDIA’SCOVIDCURVE

CASES:7,42,416TESTS: 1,04,73,771| DOUBLING RATE: 20.87**

RECOVERED:4,56,830DEATHS:20,642

*CompoundedDailyGrowthRateover last7days **Calculatedover7-daygrowth

BasedondailydatafromUnionMinistryofHealth, ICMRandstates.Oftendailynumbers includedatafrompreviousdays.Assuch, trendsbasedondailynumbersare indicative,notdefinitive

CASE FATALITYRATIO

Deaths as a ratio ofpositive cases (in %);indicator of progressin averting deaths

Positives againstnumber tested

(in %); indicator ofthe spread of disease

Becoming sick vsrecovering; more

recoveries for 14 daysmay signal the peak

POSITIVITY RATE DAILY IN, DAILYOUT

Delhihassaid Jadhavappears tobeunderextremepressure

Pak claims Jadhavrefused to file appeal,India calls it ‘farce’

STYRENELEAKTRAGEDY

ADILAKHZERSRINAGAR, JULY8

THREEmembers of a family, alllinkedtotheBJP,werekilledinamilitant attack onWednesdayevening in North Kashmir'sBandipore, leading to the arrestof their entire securitydetail.Thedeadincludedamember

of the BJP state executive com-mittee,SheikhWaseemBari,27,and his father Sheikh BashirAhmad and brother SheikhUmar, who were also office-bearersof theparty.The attack happened right

outside the Bandipore PoliceStation,when the threewere atthe family shop, runoutof theirhome.The J&KPolice said theyhad

arrested 10 of its personnel as-signedtothesecurityofBariandhis family, for failing to protectthem. Police said the personal

CONTINUEDONPAGE2

Senior BJPleader, relativeskilled in Valley,security detailarrested

WORLD

HARVARD,MIT SUEOVERU.SMOVEONFOREIGNSTUDENTSHKBANSPOLITICALEXPRESSIONATSCHOOLSPAGE8

Jaipur

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Howaraidtoarrestagangster inUttarPradeshresulted inashootout that lefteightpolicemendead.

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Delhi’s approachpossibilityof aclashduringdis-engagement and does awaywith the eyeball-to-eyeball sit-uation.Thishasbeencommuni-cated to ground-level troops,and is being called a temporarymeasure to build confidence. Itdoesnotmeanthateithersideisforfeiting the right to patrol upto theirpatrolling limits.A template for this exists –

the disengagement after theChumar standoff in September2014. That situation was re-solvedonlyafterPrimeMinisterModi raised the issue withChinese President Xi Jinpingwho was then visiting India.Both sides agreed not to patrolfor a fewweeks, and then therewas snowfall which ruled outpatrols till thenext summer.

■ Aggressive surveillanceand reconnaissance of frictionpoints and the entire standofffrontier. This has been necessi-tated by the trust deficit be-tween the two sides. The gov-ernment maintains there isadequate capability, and helpfrom international partners, togetreal-timeintelligenceonanyChinese attempt to change thestatusquobystealth.“Don’t trust, verify.” That’s

themantra in NewDelhi after

thebitter experienceof the July15 incident in Galwan Valleywhere 20 Indian Army person-nel were killed in clashes withChinese troops. India hasenough assets in play: imagesvia satellites, unmanned aerialvehiclesandaerialsurveillance,andthebackingof“like-mindedcountries”. It is confident that itcan act swiftly if it senses thatBeijing isnotkeeping itsword.

■ Keep troops deployed inthe rear areas until the disen-gagement has happened to thefullestextent.Sincethisisaboutthe entire frontier in easternLadakh, there cannot be anyloweringof guard.Officials said the Chinese

have to keep their word on thedisengagement. In fact, the twosidesdecidedtoissuetheirstate-mentsalmost20hoursafterthemeeting between the SpecialRepresentatives on July 5. Thisallowed the leadership in NewDelhiandBeijingtoapprovetheunderstandingreached.“So, therewas timeof about

12to15hourstoapproveall theunderstandings between thetwo SRs, and also see some ofthe process unfolding at theLAC,” a source saidon the time-lag between the July 5meetingat 5 pm and the statements is-suedaround3pmthenextday.

Hot Springsbetween the twocountries," hesaid.AccordingtotheseniorArmyof-ficer, some depletion in thestrength of soldiers was ob-servedWednesday at the thirdmajor standoff site at PP17A inGogra,butbothsidescontinuedtobeinaneyeball-to-eyeballsit-uation there. It is expected, theofficer said, that the rearwardmovement at PP17A “could becompleted inadayor two”.Therehasbeenlimitedrear-

ward movement by Chinesetroops, the officer said, in thecontentious Pangong Tso area,where they have come inaround 8 km, west of Finger 8whichIndiasaysmarkstheLAC.OnWednesday, some vehi-

cles, tents and troops movedback from Finger 4 towardsFinger5onthenorthbankofthesaltwater lake,buttherewasnochange in Chinese positions atFinger4ontheridgeline.Asecondofficersaidthatfol-

lowing the completion of theinitial stepof disengagementatvarious standoff sites, anothermeeting of the WorkingMechanism for Consultation &Coordination on India-ChinaBorder Affairs (WMCC) is likelytobeheld thisweek.

JadhavDirector General (South Asia &SAARC)ZahidHafeezChaudhrysaid an ordinancewas promul-gatedbythegovernmentonMay20, which allowed the Indiangovernment, Jadhav and his le-galrepresentativetofileareviewpetition in IHCwithin 60 days.Thedeadlineexpires July19.According to Pakistan’s offi-

cials, Indian authorities had re-quested to appoint an Indianlawyer to advocate for JadhavbutifanappealisfiledintheIHC,only a lawyer holding a licenseof therespectivecourtwouldbeable to representhim.Therefore, an Indian lawyer

cannot advocate for the con-victed spy butmay be allowedtoassistJadhav'scounsel, itsaid.The Pakistani government

had allowed consular access toJadhavtwice inthepastandhasoffered to do so again, the offi-cials said. Authorities have alsoofferedtoarrangeJadhav'smeet-ingwithhisfatherandwife,theysaid. The AAG and DG (SouthAsia & SAARC) expressed hopethe Indian governmentwill re-spondpositively tothisoffer.TheMEAspokesperson said,

“Wehavebeenpursuingthroughdiplomaticchannelsfullandeffec-tive implementation of the ICJ

judgmentinthecaseofKulbushanJadhav. The media statementmadebyPakistantodayinthecaseseekstomaskitscontinuingreti-cencetoimplementICJjudgmentinletterandspirit.”TheMEA said that Pakistan

hasonMay20, 2020, passedanOrdinance toallowfor theHighCourt to review the sentenceawardedbytheirmilitarycourt.“Theyhaveallalongmaintainedthattheirlawsallowedforeffec-tivereviewandreconsiderationwhile we have protested it allalong. Now, after almost a year,theyhavemadeaU-turnandis-suedanOrdinancetoostensiblyprovide forsomesortof review.Wehave already expressed ourserious concerns at the contentof theOrdinance andhow it vi-olates the ICJ judgment,” thespokespersonsaid.“Despite our repeated re-

quests, Pakistan continues todeny India free andunimpededaccesstoJadhav.Indiahasrepeat-edlyaskedtoallowalawyerfromoutside Pakistan to appear forJadhav inanyreviewandrecon-siderationproceedings.Pakistanhas denied it. Since 2017,whenMilitaryCourtcarriedoutafarci-cal trial, Pakistan has refused tohand over any relevant docu-ment, including FIR, evidence,court order, etc in the case toIndia.Clearly,Pakistanisattempt-ingtocreateamirageof compli-ancewiththeICJ judgment,”theMEAspokespersonsaid.InSeptemberlastyear,India's

Acting High Commissioner inIslamabad Gaurav Ahluwaliamet Jadhav in the presence ofPakistaniofficialsfollowingarul-ingbytheInternationalCourtofJustice (ICJ).Afterthemeeting,NewDelhi

had said Jadhav appeared to beunder “extreme pressure” tosupport Islamabad's “false nar-rative” inhis case.In July last year, the ICJ, in its

verdict,haddirectedPakistantoallowconsularaccessandeffec-tivelyreviewthedeathsentence.The court had observed thatPakistanhadbreached interna-tional law by not granting himconsularaccess.

BJP leader killedsecurity officerswere not pres-entwith themwhen the attackhappened.Bari had been associated

with theBJP formore than fouryears andwas earlier presidentof theparty'sBandiporedistrictunit. Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumarsaidthethreewereshotbysomeunidentifiedmen. "They werecritically injured and suc-cumbed later."UnionMinisterJitendraSingh

tweeted that Prime MinisterNarendraModi enquired aboutthekillingandofferedhiscondo-lences tothefamily.Inalate-nightstatement,the

J&KPolice said, "Tenpolicemenweredeployedforhis(Bari's)se-curity but nonewas kept alongby himat the time of incident...Officers continue towork toes-tablishthefullcircumstancesofthisterrorcrimebesideswhyhewaswithout any security... Themen deployed for his securityare being detained for negli-genceunder (the)policeAct."Sourcessaidtheremightbea

review of the security protocolofmainstreampoliticiansintheValley following the incident.After the imposition of gover-nor's rule in Jammu andKashmir in2018andthesubse-quent abrogation of its specialstatus, the security of a largenumber of mainstream politi-cians has been withdrawn ordowngraded.Bari had joined theBJP after

unsuccessfully contesting the2014 Assembly elections as anIndependent.“It isabig loss fortheparty. It

isanattackonnationalistthoughtandthosebehinditarefrustrated.His brotherwas coordinator fortheBJP’s youthwing inKashmirprovince,"BJPnationalvice-pres-

ident (Youth Wing) Er AijazHussainsaid.

Dubey aidemenwhohad firedat thepolicepartyinBikruvillageinKanpur’sChaubeypur police station areaearlyon July3.AmarDubeycar-riedabountyofRs50,000onhishead.Hamirpursuperintendentof police Shlok Kumar said thatAmar Dubey, who had beenspotted in Artara village, hadopenedfirewithacountrymadepistol, and police had returnedfire.AmarDubeyandtwopolicepersonnel — an inspector-rankofficer and a constable — sus-tained bullet injuries in theshooting. All injured wererushed to hospital, where doc-torsdeclaredAmarDubeydead,the SP said. Police said an auto-matic weapon was recoveredfromhim. The condition of thetwoinjuredpolicemenisstable.IG, Kanpur Range Mohit

Agarwal said Amarwas a closeaide of Vikas Dubey's, and hadfiredthemostshotsatthepoliceinBikruvillage.The UP government on

Wednesday increased the re-wardforVikasDubeytoRs5lakh.Late on Tuesday night,

Kanpur Police arrested threepersons after a brief encounterin Chaubeypur, including oneShyamuBajpai,whocarriedare-ward of Rs 50,000 on his head,and Sanju Dubey, the father ofAmarDubey.Bajpai was shot in his right

leg,buthisconditionwasstatedto be stable. The thirdmanwasidentifiedasone JahanYadav.ADG(Law&Order)Prashant

Kumar said Bajpai and YadavwerenamedintheFIRregisteredin connectionwith themurderof the eightpolicemen. The roleofSanjuDubeyhadcometolightinthecourseoftheinvestigation,the ADG said. A countrymadepistolhadbeenfoundonBajpai,policesaid.The three individuals ar-

rested in Faridabad have beenidentified as Kartikey aliasPrabhat, Ankur, and ShrawanKumar, who is Ankur’s father.KartikeyaliasPrabhatbelongstoBikru village, while Ankur andShrawanarefromKakorpurvil-lageinKanpur'sShivrajpurarea.Ankur and Shrawan had

moved to Faridabad a fewyearsago,andhadallegedlybeenshel-tering Kartikey alias Prabhat.KartikeyisnamedintheFIRonthemurder of the eight policemen,KanpurSSPDineshKumarPsaid.Prabhat,AnkurandShrawan

were produced in court onWednesday afternoon, andPrabhat was sent to transit re-mand at the request of the UPPoliceandhandedovertotheSTF.AnkurandShrawanwerere-

manded in judicial custody.Shravan tested positive for thenovel coronavirus, and “jail au-thorities will follow the guide-linesof theHealthDepartment”indealingwithhim,Singhsaid.IG Agarwal said, Ankur and

Shrawan are not accused in thecaseyet.ADG Kumar said that three

of the seven police weaponslooted by Vikas Dubey and hisgangonthenightof July2-3hadbeen recovered so far. “We areyettorecoveranINSASrifleandanAK-47riflethatweretakenbytheaccused,”hesaid.OnWednesdayevening,two

women – Khushi Dubey, thewifeofAmarDubey,andShantiDevi, themotherof abscondingaccusedHeeruDubey–werear-rested in Kanpur. Bothwomenare accused of egging on thecriminalsastheyfiredatthepo-liceon July3, IGAgarwal said.

Oxygen demandcylinderspermonth,withhalfofthestockusuallymarkedforex-port.“Butnow,allof itisgoingtothedomesticmarket,”hesays.AnandSharma,HeadofSales

and Marketing in Faridabad-based Luxfere Uttam India,which manufactures 7,000

cylinders permonth, says, “Weare witnessing nearly 30 percent hike in demand for cylin-dersof 1-50 litrecapacity.”Such is demand that many

dealersofconcentrators,mostofwhichareimportedmostlyfromChina, say they are out of stock.SaysNaveenSingh,MD,NareenaLifeSciences,GreaterNoida:“Wesold nearly 2,500 concentratorsinJune,ofwhich1,700weresup-pliedtotheDelhigovernment.”Nikhil Jain of Delhi-based

YnbHealthcaresayshisfirmhassupplied concentrators to anumber of residential societiesin the National Capital Region(NCR). “We bought three cylin-ders for our residents becausewe feel theymayberequired incoming days,” says Dr RajivSingh, president of EldecoSociety inUP'sGhaziabad.But officials and experts

strikeanoteofcaution.“Oxygenmustbeusedundermedicalsu-pervision.Thisrushmustbedis-couraged,” says DPIIT'sMohapatra.

(TOMORROW:ONTESTINGKITS, IT'SDOMESTICVSINTERNATIONAL)

LG PolymersThe leak began at 2:42 am,

andasperthecommittee’sreport,Director of Operations P P CMohanRao claimed that hehadreached the factory at 3:55 am;GeneralManager(Production)GRaju claimedhe arrived at 4:40am; Safety Head claimed hereachedthespotfirstat3:23am,whileGM(Maintenance)claimedthathearrivedat3:56am.However, the committee

said that it verifiedwith policeand personnel of various reliefand rescue agencies andchecked CCTV footage to findthat noneof the top LGofficialsarrived before 5 am. “…Thisneedsfurtherinvestigation,’’thereport said.Thereportalsonotesthatfac-

torydatafromApril25andApril28 indicated a spike in polymercontentinStyrene.OnMay7,thesame process led to the leak.Similar spikes, the probe said,were noticed as early as April 4butthesewere“totallyignored.”The report said that LG

Polymershadnoeffectiveonsiteemergencyplanora strategy totackleaStyrenevapour release.“LG Polymers did not take

partinanyoftherescueorevac-uation activities; rather, passedthe entire responsibility to thedistrict administration and thelocal community. LG Polymersfailed to alert residents in theneighbourhoods by activatingthesiren,althoughthesirenwasin aworking condition andhadmultiple activation points, in-cluding near the factory gate.Thiswas a fatal lapse,’’ said thecommittee.The probe committee red-

flaggedthe“inadequatequalifi-cations”ofsomestaffwhowereassignedthemaintenanceoftheStyrenetanksandtherefrigera-tionprocess.“(Graduates) of ITI and

Diplomas were designated asengineers andgivenhighposts.The Technical Committee re-ported that even someIntermediate-pass staff weredesignated as ‘SeniorEngineer’...’’ the report said.Despitemultiplerequests,LG

Polymers did not provide anydocumentation showing stan-dard practices for storage ofStyrene at LG’s facilities outsideIndia.Thisraisestheconcernthatless stringent standards mayhavebeen applied to the Indianfacility, thereportsaid.OnWednesday, the12exec-

utivesofLGPolymers,whowerearrested July 7were remandedin judicial custody for15days.They include: Managing

DirectorandCEOSunkeyJeong;Technical Director D S Kim;AdditionalDirector(operations)P P C Mohan Rao; in-charge,Styrene monitoring. KSrinivas Kiran Kumar; and pro-

duction team leader RajuSatyanarayana.A spokesperson for LG

Polymers was unavailable forcommentontheprobereport.

IIT board marksIITs, instead, should insist onrank holders to have passedtheir Board exams this year,"said a JICmemberwho did notwish to be identified. "Thiswouldbeaone-timeexception,"themembersaid.The JICproposalwillonlybe

implemented once it has theJoint Admission Board's (JAB)approval.JEE (Advanced)will be held

onSeptember27.Thisisthesec-ond time the examination hasbeen rescheduled due to thepandemic'soutbreak.

Probe panelbeheadedbya SpecialDirectorfrom the EnforcementDirectorate(ED)andwillincludeofficialsfromtheIncomeTaxde-partment, CBI, Ministry ofFinance, Ministry of UrbanDevelopment andMinistry ofHomeAffairs.Sources said the committee

willprobethesourceofallfunds,includingforeigncontributions.It will call for all relevant docu-ments, and then, if needed, calloffice-bearersforquestioning.Itwill also look into allotment oflandforconstructionof JawaharBhawan, where the RGF has itsoffice.TheCongress termedthegovernment's move as “cow-ardly”anda“blindwitch-hunt”.“MrModi believes theworld islikehim.Hethinkseveryonehasapriceorcanbeintimidated.Hewillneverunderstandthatthosewho fight for the truth have noprice and cannot be intimi-dated,”Rahul tweeted.“The Rajiv Gandhi

Foundation has nothing to add,nothingtofearbecauseyouhaveall themachinery and you canask every question in every in-quiry... But you need to be ex-posedfully…youdon’taskthesequestions of many holy cows...You are harassing each opposi-tion segment, individual or in-stitutional,” said partyspokespersonAbhishekSinghvi.“But thebeauty is that these

lovelyquestions like9th sched-ule exemptions… don’t getasked of VivekanandaFoundation,OverseasFriendsofBJP, IndiaFoundationor for thatmattertheydon’tgetasked--formuch larger quantums ofmoney–of theRSS,”hesaid.“Whosespecialarcofprotec-

tiondo theyenjoy... Is thereanylevel playing field in this coun-try…Wewill send you truck-loads of documents, but if youhave the courage… ask at least5percentof thesamequestionsto them and share the answerswith thecountry,”hesaid.“Indira Gandhi and Rajiv

GandhigavetheirlivesforIndia.Targetingthetrustsdedicatedtohonour their rich legacy is un-fortunate and vindictive,” saidCWCmemberAnandSharma.“The illegal, arbitrary and

mala fide action against RGF &other organisations is yet an-other exampleof how lowtheywill go,” said senior CongressleaderManishTewari.The party’s communication

department head, RandeepSurjewala, said the“viciousandvengefulinvestigation”was“de-vioushounding”ofthoseexpos-ingthegovernment’sineptitude.Defending the government,

BJP general secretary PMuralidhar Rao said it was a“natural outcome” of the infor-mationthathascomeoutabouttheRGF.Lastmonth, amid the India-

Chinaborderrow,asRahulques-tionedPrimeMinisterNarendraModi'sleadership,BJPpresidentJPNaddasaid theCongresshadnomoral right to talk about thecountry’s security.

FULLREPORTSONwww.indianexpress.com

FROMPAGEONE

Jaipur

RAJASTHAN 3WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

DARK VIEWMonsooncloudshoverover JaipurskylineonWednesday.SeveralpartsofRajasthanreceivedscatteredrainfallwhile isolatedplaceswere lashedbyheavyrains inthe last24hours, theMetofficesaid.At74mm,statecapital Jaipurreceivedthemaximumrainfall in the last24hours tillWednesdaymorning.Uchain(Bharatpur),Roopwas(Bharatpur), andBhinder (Udaipur) recorded54,49and45mmrain, respectivelywhilePilalkhunt (Pratapnagar)andGogunda(Udaipur)eachreceived29mmrain,accordingtotheMetdepartment.Severalotherplacesalsorecorded29mmto15mmrainduringthisperiod.AccordingtotheMetoffice, light tomoderaterainwouldoccur inpartsof state inthenext48hours. Photo:Rohit JainParas/Text-PTI

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIANEWDELHI, JULY8

THESUPREMECourtonWednesdayextendedprotection toTVnewsan-chorAmishDevganagainstanycoer-cive action in cases lodged over hisalleged defamatory remark againstSufi saint KhwajaMoinuddin Chistiduring a show telecast on June15.Abenchcomprising JusticesAM

Khanwilkar and Sanjiv KhannaaskedDevgan'scounsel tocompletethe pleadings in the case by servingcopies of the petition to those whohad filed complaints against thejournalist in various states.SenioradvocateSidhharthLuthra

and lawyerMrinal Bharti appearedforDevganinthehearingconductedthrough video link by the court,whichextendedthereliefgrantedonJune26toDevgantill furtherorders.

Five FIRshave beenlodged againstDevgan inRajasthan,Maharashtraand Telanganafor using aderogatorytermfortheSufi

saint inthenewsdebateshowcalled‘Aar Paar’ onhis channel on June15.However, he later tweeted an

apology saying that hewas actuallyreferring to Muslim ruler AlauddinKhilji and inadvertently ended upnamingChisti.Devgan moved the top court

seeking stay on the probe in crimi-nal cases besides seeking theirquashing.The court had stayed the pend-

ing or future probes in the caseagainstthejournalistbypoliceagen-

cies tillWednesday.“As regards the interim relief, till

the next date of hearing,we deem itappropriate to pass ad-interim reliefin terms of prayer clause (A) and (B)(which seek stay of investigation inpending and future FIRs and thepro-tectionfrompossiblecoerciveaction),”thetopcourthadsaidintheorder.Issuing notices to Maharashtra,

TelanganaandRajasthan, thebenchhad asked Bharti to make the com-plainants, who have lodged FIRs, asparties tohispetitionandhad listedthe case for hearingon today.Two FIRs for the alleged offence

have been registered at Ajmer andKota in Rajasthan and one has beenlodged at Bahadurpura inHyderabad, the plea said, addingthat twosuchFIRshavebeenlodgedat Nanded and Pydhonie inMaharashtra.Devgan said he has already is-

sued a clarification through a tweetandmoreover,errorscannotbecon-strued as criminal offences.The journalist said that the plea

concerned the life and libertyof thejournalist.“In a well-orchestrated manner

— the Petitioner has been made avictimof countrywide filingof falseand baseless Criminal Complaintand FIRs on one hand and on theotherhandPetitioner,his familyandhis crew has been abused un-abashedly on the social media andby personal messages by unknownpersons. The Petitioner has also re-ceived several death threats fromvarious anti-social elements,” theplea said.It said thatDevganwasholdinga

discussionon apetition filedbeforethetopcourtonhisshowonJune15ontheissueof thePlacesofWorshipSpecial ProvisionsAct.

AmishDevgan

SC extends protection to TV anchor fromcoercive action in defamation cases

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICENEWDELHI, JULY8

THE SUPREME Court Wednesdayasked Rajasthan police about theprogress in the investigation into the2017 death of a law student and di-rected thedepartment to complete itin twomonths.“Whenare yougoing to complete

it?...There has to be some end to it,”said a bench of Justices R F Nariman,NavinSinhaandBRGavai.“Having heard Manish Singhvi,

seniorcounselappearingonbehalfofthe state, we are of the view that theinvestigationwhich is ongoing, pur-suant to the high court’s order datedFebruary24,2020,mustbecompleted

withinaperiodof twomonthsandfi-nal report be filed before this court,”thebenchordered.Singhvi told the bench that a

Special Investigation Team lookinginto the matter had contactedFacebook andGoogle for some infor-mation,but theywereyet togetback.The court was hearing a plea by

Neetu KumarNagaich, themother of21-year-oldVikrantNagaich,whowasa third-year student of National LawUniversity, Jodhpur.Vikrant’s body was found on

August14,2017 fromnear railway tracks. The evening

before that, hehadplanned togo to anearbyrestaurantwithfriendsbutdidnot showup.Nagaichsaid inherpleathat there

is reasonable suspicionabout thecir-cumstances behind her son’s deathand urged the court to transfer it toCBI.Thepleaallegedgaps in theprobe

and“probablecollusiontoshieldsomehigh, mighty and influentialperson(s)”.“Despite the lapseof almost three

years, no charge sheet has been filed.Theinvestigationisatastandstill,withno effortmade to apprehend the of-fenders,” said thepetition.She contended that the casewas

registeredaftera10-monthdelayandurgedtheSupremeCourttodirecttheCBI totakeall stepsto“solvethemys-teryof theunnaturaldeath”.Thecourtwillhearthematternext

onSeptember7.

2017 death of law student: SC asks Rajasthanpolice to complete probe in two months

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAIPUR, JULY8

ANELDERLYmanadmittedtoahospital inJaipurwithsymptomsofcoronavirusallegedlycommit-ted suicide by jumping from the second floor ofthemedical instituteonWednesday,policesaid.Kailash Chand Sharma, 78, was admitted at

Jaipur’s Rajasthan University of Health Sciences(RUHS). His Covid-19 test report camenegative,minutes before he took the extreme step, policesaid, adding hewas not aware of the test result.Sharmawas admitted to a semi ICU on the sec-ond floorof RUHS, theysaid.“His sample for Covid-19 test was collected

andthereportcamenegative.Thereasonbehindtheextremestepisnotclearyetandthematterisbeing probed,” Deputy Commissioner of PoliceRahul Jain said. Sharmawas earlier admitted toKanwatiahospital,ShastriNagar fortwotothreedays due to breathing problem.Hewas referredtoRUHSonTuesdayafterhisconditionworsened.Inthe last fewdays, thestatehasseenasurge

innewcases,with659newcases and10deathsbeingreportedovernightonWednesday.Theto-talpositivecasesnowstandat22,063while482persons have died. Asmany as 16,493 personshaverecoveredwhilethereare4,715activecases.

Elderly patient withCovid-19 symptomsjumps to death in Jaipur

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAIPUR, JULY8

RAJASTHAN ASSEMBLY Speaker CP Joshi onWednesdaysaidthatheis ‘examining’thebreachofprivilegemotionmovedagainstBJPstatepres-ident and MLA from Amber inJaipur, SatishPoonia.Last month, independent

MLAfromSirohi, SanyamLodha,hadallegedbreachofprivilegebyPoonia. In the context of RajyaSabha elections, Poonia had al-leged that government had of-feredmines,plotsandcash to23members for casting vote infavour of Congress candidate forRS elections. The Congress hadwontwoseatswhileBJPwonone.Lodha, considered close to

ChiefMinisterAshokGehlot,hadtermed Poonia’s statements a“blatant attempt to tarnish theimage of members of theLegislative Assembly by raisingfalse aspersions against the 23members.” Talking to The IndianExpress, Joshisaid,“Mystatementisveryclear. Ihavereceiveditandweareexaminingitasperrules.”AsperChapter19of theRules

of Procedure and Conduct ofBusinessoftheStateAssembly,theHousemayconsiderthequestionand come to a decision or refer itto the Committee of Privileges.Separately, the Speaker himselfmayreferanyquestionofprivilegetotheCommitteeofPrivilegesforexamination, investigation or re-port. CongressMLA fromBansurinAlwar,ShakuntalaRawat, isthechairman of the Assembly’sCommitteeonPrivileges.

Speaker ‘examining’ themotion against Poonia

Jaipur

EXPRESSNETWORK4 WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COMTHEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

RIFLEMAN (LATE) DIPENDRA SEN THAKURI13.02.1994 TO 07.07.2020

With heavy heart, we regret to inform thelossof ourbrave soldier whilein the line of duty. A sincere,loyal & dedicated soldier, his demise is a great lossto the battalion. We pray to ‘MaaDurga’ to resthis soul in peace & to grant strength to bereavedfamily members to bear the irreparable loss.

SECOND NINE GORKHAS

SALUTE THE SOLDIER

RIFLEMAN-LATE

DIPENDRASEN THAKURI

ON THE 21st ANNIVERSARY OF THE VICTORY IN BATALIK,WE PAY HOMAGE TO THE MARTYRS OF THE FIRST

BATTALION, THE BIHAR REGIMENT AND REDEDICATEOURSELVES TO THE SERVICE OF THE NATION.

Maj MSarvanan,

Vrc

L/Nk BidyaNand Singh,

SM

Hav RattanKumar Singh,

SM

Sep PramodKumar,

SM

Sep HardeoPrasad, SM

Sep N S KKavaji, SM

Nk GaneshPrasad Yadav,

VrC

Sep S S PGupta,

SM

ANDHav Birsa Oraon,SM, Sep Garasiya B B M Bhai, Sep Arbind KumarPandey

Your gallantry and supreme sacrifice were recognisedthrough awards of Battle Honour “BATALIK” and TheatreHonour “KARGIL”. Your gallantry will always serve as aninspiration for us. We, the fraternity of the Veer Bihari’s,salute you and your brave families.

The Bihar Regiment Association

Declare EastRajasthan CanalProject nationalventure, Gehloturges Centre

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEJAIPUR, JULY8

RAJASTHAN CHIEF MinisterAshokGehlotonWednesdayre-iterated his demand that thestate’s ambitious EasternRajasthan Canal Project (ERCP)should be declared as the na-tionalproject ‘at theearliest’.In a letter written to Prime

MinisterNarendraModi,theCMsaid that theprojectwithanes-timatedcostofapproximatelyRs37,247crorewouldensureavail-abilityofwaterfordrinkingpur-poseto13districtsandirrigationof 2.8 lakhhectares.Gehlot said that the central

government earlier had giventhe status of national project to16 variousmultipurpose irriga-tion projects, but none of themultipurposeirrigationprojectsinRajasthanhasbeengiventhisstatus. He said that this projectshouldbegiventhestatusofna-tionalproject, lookingtothe‘se-rious’drinkingwaterprobleminmanydistrictsof thestate.The CMwrote that the de-

tailed project report (DPR) ofERCPwas sent to CentralWaterCommission inNovember2017for approval. THE ERCP aims toprovide sufficient water fordrinkingandirrigationpurposes,by2051,toJhalawar,Baran,Kota,Bundi, SawaiMadhopur, Ajmer,Tonk, Jaipur, Dausa, Karauli,Alwar, Bharatpur and Dholpurdistricts.AccordingtotheDPRoftheproject,duringmonsoontheexcesswater in thesub-basinofKunnu, Kul, Parvati, KalisindhandMaizriverswillbecarriedtosub-basin of Banas, Morel,Banganga,GambhirandParbatirivers throughthisproject.Meanwhile,PTIreportedthat

CMGehlot termed the Centre’sdecision to probe three Nehru-Gandhi family linked trusts, in-cluding the Rajiv GandhiFoundation,asa‘clearcaseofpo-litical vendetta’.“The decision by MHA to

probethreeGandhifamilytrustsrelated to INC is clearly a caseofpolitical vendetta. NDA Govtcan'tdigest INCraisingtheissueof the need for transparency inthe PM Cares Fund. The actionagainstthethreetrustsisadirectresultof this,”hesaid inatweet.

AshokGehlot

PRESSTRUSTOFINDIAJAIPUR, JULY8

THERAJASTHANgovernmentonWednesday approved newpenalty rates for drivers whobreak traffic rules.Thepenaltyratesrangefrom

Rs100forcommonoffenceslikejumping red light to Rs 40,000for seriousoffences.ChiefMinisterAshokGehlot

has approved the proposal forfixingthefineamountundertheMotor Vehicles (Amendment)Act-2019,whichcameintoeffectfromSeptember1,2019,anoffi-cial statement said.However, the penalty for

gross traffic rules violation is asprescribed by the Centre. Thepenalty foroffences less seriousinnaturehasbeenkeptthemin-imumkeepinginmindtheinter-est of the commonman includ-ing low and middle incomegroups, it said. According to theproposal approved by theTransport Department, thepenalty amount for driving of-fences of less serious in natureranges fromRs100toRs1,000.For general offences such as

red light jumping, disregardingroad signs, breaking parkingrules, unauthorised sirens orlights, nowipers, black filmingon windows, the fine amounthas been kept at aminimumofRs100, thestatement said.On the other hand, the re-

fusal by the driver to stop orweighthevehicles transportingthe goods on the road and con-sidering the overloading ofgoods (overload) as gross negli-gence towards road safety, amaximumfineofRs40,000andaminimumRs 20,000 respec-tively has been determined, itsaid.

New penaltyrates for drivingoffences in state

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, JULY8

FORTHEfirsttimeinIndia’sout-breaksinceMarch,theCovid-19transmissionratehasincreased.India’s Covid-19 reproduc-

tion number, or R, which esti-mates thenumberof people in-fected by one already infectedperson,was on a steadydeclinefrom 1.83 for months sinceMarch 4. However, in the firstweek of the second unlockingphaseinJuly,theratehasshownan increase for the first time, re-search by the Institute ofMathematical Sciences inChennai shows.Having an R less than one is

thegoalofhealthauthorities,asitsignifiesaflatteningof thecurve.The R is currently at 1.19,

whichmeansthateachinfectedperson on average infects 1.19people,accordingtoDrSitabhraSinha,ascientistattheinstitute.“It usually takes 10 days to

twoweeksforanyeffecttoshowup as increased or decreasedcase numbers. So, I would saythat this increasewe are seeingprobablyhas itsorigin ineventsthathappenedaroundmid-Juneor slightly later,” he said. “ThebottomlineisthatrightnowweareinthesituationwewereininMayandearly June,andthefur-therdecreasewesawinlateJunewas not sustained or improvedupon.”Delhi has shown significant

strides,fromanRnumberof1.25between June 13-16 to a curve

that is now around 1. For a fewdays starting June 21, Delhi hadan R slightly above one. Sinhacalled the curve “sub-exponen-tial”, meaning not growing ex-ponentially for sometimenow.Haryanaisalsoshowingsim-

ilar signs. The only other time aheavy-caseload state showedsuchpositivetrendswasinAprilto mid-Maywhen Tamil Naduflattenedthecurvesubstantially.InMarch,theviruswasbeing

transmittedto1.83peopleonav-erageinIndiawhiletheratewas2.14 inWuhan and 2.73 in Italy.BetweenApril6and11, India’sRdroppedto1.55.Subsequently, itdropped to 1.49 and then1.2 byearly June,as thecountrybeganto relax the lockdown in aphasedmanner.Thetransmissionratecontin-

ued to decline into June, reach-ing1.11byJune26.However,af-ter a month of unlocking, thetransmissionratehaspickedupbetweenJuly2andJuly5to1.19.ThehighestRnumbersarein

the south in Karnataka (1.66),Telangana (1.65) and AndhraPradesh (1.32). Previously fast-growing states have sloweddown,suchasGujaratat1.15andWest Bengal at 1.1. “The currentincrease inRcanmostprobablybe attributed to the high R forsome of the southern states,”Sinhasaid.States like Assam and

Rajasthanarenotcurrentlycon-sistent enough to estimate for,Sinhaadded.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

Transmission rategoes up, first timesince March: study

KRISHNKAUSHIKNEWDELHI, JULY8

THE UNION Cabinet onWednesday approved the ex-tension of some of the meas-ures taken by the governmenttohelppeople tideover the se-vere impact of the nationwidelockdown imposed on March25.Among the key measures,

the Cabinet gave its nod to ex-tend thePradhanMantriGaribKalyan Anna Yojana, whichprovides forallocationof food-grain fromtheCentralpool,un-til November with an addi-tionalestimatedexpenditureofRs 76,062 crore.It also extended the time

limit to avail three free LPGcylinders under the Ujjwalascheme. Starting April 1, bene-ficiaries of Ujjwala were al-lowed three free cylinders,which, if not claimed, can nowbe taken by September-end.In a national address on

June 30, Prime MinisterNarendraModihadannouncedextension of the Anna Yojanaby five months. Under thescheme, thegovernment ispro-viding additional 5 kg rice orwheat and 1 kg whole chanaper person per month — dis-tributed free,bothareoverand

abovethemonthlyentitlementof beneficiaries.While the scheme intends

to cover 81 crore beneficiariesunder the National FoodSecurity Act, 2013, the govern-mentsaid that74.3crorebene-ficiaries were covered in April,74.75 crore in May, and 64.72crore beneficiaries got the ad-ditional foodgrain in June.TheCabinetalsoapproveda

newnationwideCentral sectorscheme — the Agriculture

InfrastructureFund.Under this,banksandfinancial institutionswill provide Rs 1 lakh croremedium to long-term debt fi-nancing facility for investmentin projects for post-harvestmanagement infrastructureandcommunity farmingassetsover the next four years. Theloans will be given to agenciessuch as Primary AgriculturalCredit Societies, MarketingCooperative Societies, FarmerProducers’Organisations, Self-

Help Group (and farmers,among others.The scheme will start with

sanction of Rs 10,000 crore inthecurrent fiscalandRs30,000per annumin thenext three fi-nancial years. Thegovernmentsaidthat“all loansunder this fi-nancing facilitywillhave inter-est subventionof 3percentperannum up to a limit of Rs 2crore”. The total outflow asbudgetary support for theschemewillbeRs10,736crore.

The Cabinet gave the gov-ernment a go-ahead for devel-opment of Affordable RentalHousing Complexes (AHRCs)forurbanmigrantworkersandthe poor. Announced byFinance Minister NirmalaSitharaman on May 14 as partof the government’s reliefmeasures, thiswill comeunderthe Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana.Union Information and

BroadcastingMinister PrakashJavadekar onWednesday saidthere are 1.08 lakh single-bed-room apartments in govern-ment-funded housing com-plexes across seven cities thatarereadyandvacantat themo-ment. “These will be given tomigrant workers on rent,” hesaid.The apartments will be

rented out by the respectivecity municipal bodies throughconcession agreements for 25years.The“concessionaire”willbe selected by state govern-ments through transparentbidding, the government an-nounced.Additionally, special incen-

tivessuchasusepermission,50percentmoreFAR/FSI,andcon-cessional loanatprioritysectorlending rate will be offered topublicandprivateentitieswhodevelop suchARHCs.

PMNarendraModiandHomeMinisterAmitShahatthecabinetmeetinDelhiWednesday.ANI

Cabinet nod to extend free grain schemetill Nov, three free LPG cylinders to Sept

SHUBHRAGUPTANEWDELHI, JULY8

IT’SWELLknownthat Jagdeep,born Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed Jafri,joined the Hindi film industryas a child artiste, and that hiscomic timingmadehimpopu-larasacomedianthroughmostof his adult career. But notenough notice was paid to thefact that he moved well andhad a good singing voice. Hisbrief stintasa leadingmandid-n’tuse theseskills: those films,especiallyAVM’s ‘Bhabhi’,wereheavywithemotion.Andsohetipped over into comedy, andthere he stayed, cementing hisplaceasoneof Bollywood’s top

comic artistes.Jagdeep died inMumbai on

Wednesday.Hewas81.Thinking of Jagdeep, the

first thing that comes to mindis Soorma Bhopali, the 1975‘Sholay’ character that becameso popular that it nearlyeclipsedeverythingelsehedid.Flashback to that scene inwhichtheheroes, JaiandVeeru,come upon Soorma Bhopalitelling a bunch of spellboundlistenersabouthowhebeat thetwowith a stick, andhowhe isfound out: his paan-stainedteeth, that Bhopali lilt, andcomfort ina rolemeant strictlyfor laughsmadehisSoormaun-forgettable.Toomany of the nearly 400

roles that Jagdeep did over sixdecadeswere interchangeable.Broad,loudstrokesforthecomicfolkmeantthattheirtrackswerefilledwithgags,pratfalls,andba-nana-peel humour: that was

prettymuchthewayofthecom-edy from the 1950s to 1980s. Aseriesoftalentedcomics,includ-ing Johnny Walker, Mukri,Paintal, Mehmood, RajendraNath and Keshto Mukherjee,were type-cast and had to dothat one thing the audiencewantedthemtodo. Jagdeeptoofell into that trap of repeatinghimself, often using the samegrinsandgrimaces,buthecouldalways be relied upon tomakeus laugh.Some of his early roles are

memorable. Bimal Roy’s ‘DoBigha Zameen’ and Guru Dutt’s‘AarPaar’,aswellas ‘HumPanchiEkDaalKe’showcasedhistalent:hewasanatural,andhehadtheabilitytobedroll,andboththose

gifts came in handy in his longcareer. He played a young, dap-per Dilip Kumar in ‘Shikwa’, anunreleased 1954 film; he wasequally comfortable in RamsayBrother’shorrorfests.OneofhislastsignificantroleswasplayingSalman Khan’s father inRajkumarSantoshi’s1994 ‘AndazApna Apna’, hewas looking dis-tinctly older but the familiarvervewasverymuchthere.Jagdeep’s most famous

avatar ledhimtoproducea filmof the same name, but ‘SoormaBhopali’, the1988film,foundnotakers. The character lives on inour memories. “Par hamaaranaam Soorma Bhopali aise hinahin hai,” says Jagdeep, in thatscene.Sahi farmaaya, janaab.

Jagdeep dies at 81, Soorma Bhopali lives on

JAGDEEP

1939-2020

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEVADODARA,AHMEDABAD, JULY8

TWODAYSafter sixVadodarapolicemenwere booked over the alleged custodialdeathofa65-year-oldmigrantworkerfromTelanganatheinvestigatingofficersclaimedtheaccusedhavegoneintohiding.“Immediately after the FIR was

lodged,allof themwentintohiding.Wehave formedseveral teams that are alsoactively raiding various locations butthey are yet to be traced. Their phonesare switched off aswell.Wewill arrestthem soon,” said Deepak Meghani,DeputyCommissionerof Police, Zone1.Babu SheikhNisar from Telangana’s

Kamareddydistrictwaspickedupbypo-liceonDecember10overatheft.Hewasallegedly tortured at Fatehgunj policestationandhasgonemissingsince.Reports placed on record of the

GujaratHighCourt have suggested that

Nisarwaspickedupat11.30amandwasallowedtoleavethepolicestationat5.25pmafter“makinganoteinthepolicesta-tiondiary”.The Gujarat government sought a

week's time onMonday on the groundthatACPE-DivisionSGPatil“isdiligentlyand strenuouslymaking an attempt toreach to the truth”. The court directedthatthereportonthemissingcomplaintbesubmittedonorbefore July10.The Vadodara police, which had

despatchedseveralteamstolookfortheaccused, claimed it hadno leadsyet.OnWednesday, three accused LRD jawans—YogendraJilansinh,RajivSavjibhaiandHiteshShambubhai—weresuspended.Accused police inspector DB Gohil

was transferred to Ahmedabad aweekbefore the FIRwas lodged and sub-in-spector DM Rabari was transferred toAhmedabad city twomonths ago. LRDjawanPankajMavjibhaiwastransferredtoAmreli twomonthsago.

Accused policemen in Vadodara‘custodial death’ case absconding

Jaipur

5WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

@ieExplained#ExpressExplainedIf there are questions of current or contemporary relevance that youwould likeexplained, pleasewrite to explained@indianexpress.comE EXPLAINED

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

SUSHANTSINGHNEWDELHI, JULY8

THE STANDOFFS between Indian andChinese troops in Ladakh on the Line ofActual Control (LAC),where initial steps to-wardsdisengagementhavetakenplace, arearoundanumberofpatrollingpointsorPPsinGalwan,HotSpringsandGograareas.

WhatexactlyarePPs?PPs are patrolling points identified and

markedontheLAC,whicharepatrolledwithastipulatedfrequencybythesecurityforces.They serve as a guide to the location of theLACforthesoldiers,actingasindicatorsoftheextentof ‘actualcontrol’exercisedontheter-ritorybyIndia.ByregularlypatrollinguptothesePPs,the

Indian side is able to establish and assert itsphysicalclaimabouttheLAC.

Areall thePPsnumbered?No. Some of the PPs are prominent and

identifiablegeographical features, suchasapass, or a nala junctionwhere no numeralsaregiven.OnlythosePPs,wheretherearenoprominent features, arenumberedas in thecaseof PP14 inGalwanValley.

AreallonthePPsbangontheLAC?Mostly,yes.ExceptfortheDepsangplains

innorthernLadakh,wherePP10,PP11,PP11A,PP12andPP13–fromRakiNalatoJivanNala–donotfallontheLAC.TheseareshortoftheLAC,on the Indianside.

ArethesePPsnotmanned?The PPs are not posts and thus not

manned.UnlikeontheLineofControl (LoC)with Pakistan, the borderwith China is notphysically held by the Army all along. Theyarejustphysicalmarkersontheground,cho-sen for their locationandhavenodefensive

potentialortacticalimportancefortheArmy.

If thePPsarenotmanned,howistheclaimactuallyasserted?TheclaimisassertedbytheArmyorjoint

Army-ITBPpatrolsastheyshowmorevisiblepresenceintheseareas.Thisisdonebyphys-icallyvisitingPPswithahigherfrequency,asthedeploymenthasmovedclosertotheLACand due to improved infrastructure. As theChinesemaynotseewhentheIndianpatrolsvisitthesePPs,theywillleavecomecigarettepacketsorfoodtinswithIndianmarkingsbe-hind.That lets theChineseknowthat Indiansoldiershadvisitedtheplace,whichindicatesthat Indiawas incontrolof theseareas.

WhohasgiventhesePPs?ThesePPshavebeenidentifiedbythehigh-

powered China StudyGroup, starting from1975whenpatrolling limits for Indian forceswerespecified.ItisbasedontheLAC,afterthe

government accepted the concept in 1993,which is alsomarked on themapswith theArmyintheborderareas.ButthefrequencyofpatrollingtoPPsisnotspecifiedbytheCSG–itisfinalisedbytheArmyHeadquartersinNewDelhi, basedon the recommendationsmadebytheArmyandITBP.

Whatis this frequency?ThefrequencyofreachingvariousPPsare

given in the annual patrolling programme.Based on the terrain, the ground situationandthe locationof theLAC, theduration forvisitingeachPPisspecified–itcanvaryfromonceamonth to twiceayear.

WhichPPsarecurrentlyunderdispute?PPs 10 to 13 in Depsang sector, PP14 in

Galwan, PP15 in Hot Spring, and PP17 andPP17AinGograarecurrentlybeingdisputedbybothsides,wherethestandoffshavetakenplace in thepastnineweeks.

‘China is trying to show I am the superpower…India has shown we will not take it lying down’

What do these markers on LAC signify?

Onwhat isdifferentabouttheGalwanclashandthebuild-upThe IndianandChinese civilisations areboth

ancientcivilisationsbutIndia'scivilisationcanbesummarised inwhatwe callVasudaiva kutum-bakum,whichmeanstheworldisonefamily.Ontheotherhand, theChinesewayof thinking canbe summarised in theword China. In Chinese,China is referred to asChungWo, whichmeansmiddlekingdomormiddlecountry,andtheirap-proachisthattheyarethecentreoftheworldandeverythingelserevolvesaroundthem.Sotheyareat the centre, everyone isperipheral…theyonlyworryabout themselves. Soyoumust startwiththis premisewhere there are twodifferentpeo-pleswithtwodifferentapproaches.Inthepastthereusedtobestraypatrols,which

sometimesusedtocomefacetoface,butthenum-beroftroopswasverysmall,itcouldbe40,itcouldbe50…itcouldbe100,150,butitwasonlyinthehundreds.Thistimearound,awholebuild-uphastakenplace ineasternLadakh. TheChinesemili-taryhasplannedforthis.Therefore,asthegovern-mentsays,thewholebuild-upispremeditated.IneasternLadakh,notrightattheborder[but]a lit-tle bit indepth, there are several divisionsof theChineseArmywhichareprepared,at least3-4ormaybe5divisions of theChinesePLA.Nowthiscan't happenovernight. Theywere planning inearlyApriltodosomekindofmilitaryexercisesinthis area, and theyquicklydiverted the forces totheeasternpart of Ladakh. Indiahas alsodoneacorrespondingmilitarybuildupandtherefore,thelargenumberswhichareinvolvedthistimeshowthatwhat is happening in eastern Ladakh in thesummerof2020isquitedifferentfromwhathashappenedinthepast...

Ontheseriousnessof thesituationWhen the PLA comes after having planned

andprepared, it isnotanaccidental face-off be-tweensmallergroupsof troopswhomaybepa-trollingthatsamearea.Soyouhavetoaskyour-self thequestion,whyishedoingit?Whatishismessagetous?AndIthinkthattherearetworea-sons. One is a tactical reason, one is a strategicreason. The tactical reason is very simple, he istrying tomove his ground positions,where histroops actually are right up to the point, whichheconsiderstobehisLAC.Now,rememberthatthere isnoagreedboundarybetween IndiaandChina; alsowe have great differences of opin-ion…Now,whatheisdoingis,hewantstodefinethis lineunilaterally,bringhis troopsrightupto

the lineandpresentuswitha faitaccompli.On the strategic side, he knowsvery clearly

thatmaintainingpeaceontheIndia-Chinabor-derisaprerequisitefortherelationshiptomoveahead.Soifheunderminespeaceontheborder,hesaysIdonotwanttohavethecurrentkindofrelationship Ihavewith India. Sohe is trying tobrowbeatus, trying tobullyus, trying toshowIamthesuperpowerinAsiaandyoujusthavetotakethatlyingdown.Indiahasshown,tacticallyon the ground, thatwewill not take this lyingdown. In Galwanwe have blocked him at theLACandour bottom line for thenegotiations isthe Chinese must restore status quo, which

means theymust go back to the situation as itexistedbeforetheystartedallthesemovements.

OnwhyChinaisnotdeclaringitscasualtiesTheyhave traditionally never declared their

casualtiesimmediatelyafteraclashorevenawar.They take a fewyears. I think this is part of theirsystem;theyarenotanopen,transparentsystem..Asyouknow,oursortofestimateofthecasualtiessufferedbythePLAishigherthanwhatourcasu-altiesare.Idon’thaveaprecisefigure,wewillneverknowaprecisefigure…Wehavecometothatcon-clusiononthebasisofwhatwehaveheard frompeople who have been on the ground…OurMinisterofStatewhowasaformerChiefofArmyStaffhasputthefigureat43.Idon'tknowifitis43,23, or 63, but I am told by all accounts that theIndianArmygave an excellent account of itself.You canexpectmanycasualties on thePLA side.Wecanquibbleaboutthenumbers;whatismoreimportant is that for the first time the PLAhastakenbattlefield casualties inover fourdecades,andIthinkthatisabigmessagethatIndianArmyhassent,ontheground,totheChinesePLA.

OnthetransitionfromDengXiaoping'sChinatoXi Jinping'sChinaThebiggestchangehasbeentheeconomicsof

the country. If you go back to the late 1980s, in

1988,China’sGDPwasalmostthesameasIndia’s.Today, China's GDP is roughly 4.5 times that ofIndia.AndofcourseChinaitselfhaschanged...In the 80s, they used to abide bywhatwas

DengXiaoping'sfamousdictumthatChinamusthideitsstrengthandbideitstime.Nowithasbidedfourdecades and it has grownvery fast in thesefourdecades, at roughlyaGDPgrowthrateof 10per cent everyyear.Now, the current leadershipunderPresidentXiJinping—andmoreimportantthanhispositionasPresidentishispositionasthegeneralsecretaryoftheCommunistPartyofChina—theybelievetheirtimehascome,andthattheyhavetoshowhowpowerfultheyare.Andtheyaredoingthisallovertheworld.TheyaredoingthisintheSouthChinaSeaby takingover andbuildingnew islands,which they then immediately starttomilitarise.TheyaredoingitinHongKongwiththenewsecuritylaw,whichmeansbasicallythatthe ‘one country, two systems’ formula underwhich China took back sovereignty overHongKong is dead in thewater. They are threateningTaiwan.Theyhaveatrade,technologyandawidersortofbattlewiththeUS.Andtheyarealsoheat-inguptheIndia-Chinaborder.

OnhowdiplomaticnegotiationstakeplaceinasituationlikethisIt varies from situation to situation. Letme

take2013inDepsang.Troopsonthegroundtoldustheyhadtheirdiscussionsaboutwhat'shap-pening and I pickedup thephone and spoke tomycounterpart inBeijing, butwealsoused theoffices... In2013ourAmbassadortoChinawasofcourseDrSJaishankar,who’stodaytheExternalAffairsMinister, so he used to convey ourmes-sages to the ForeignMinistry of China. Therewere several rounds of suchmessaging frombothsides,sayingclearlywhatwas,whatshouldbedoneetc.andtheneventuallyweinsistedthatourbottomlineisthattherewillbenosuchvisitby our PrimeMinister unless this thing is re-solvedcompletely.Wewon’tevenstartplanningforthevisituntil theDepsangincidenthasbeenresolved; that'showitactuallyworkedout.

TRANSCRIBEDBYMEHRGILL(Editedexcerpts)

VVIIDDEEOO::youtu.be/0tWGbxO3KOg

AUDIENCEQUESTIONS

IfUS,EuropeandASEANcountriescanclubtogetheragainstChinaFor the last 2-2.5 years they (US) has

been in this tradeand technologywarwithChina. I think increasingly, Europeancoun-tries are also seeing that China is a spoilerin,forexample,thetheftof intellectualprop-ertyandsoon.SoIthinkeconomicallytherewill be some kind of battle between thesecountries…

Onwhetherthe incident inLadakhislinkedtoBeltRoadInitiativeNo, Idon't think it isdirectly linkedwith

it. Any number of suggestions are being of-feredastowhythis ishappening, I thinktheansweris…theyaretryingtoactuallycontrolground up till what is their idea of the LAC,andstrategically theyare sending Indiaandtherestof theworldamessage,thatlook,weare thebigboyshere…

GAUTAMBAMBAWALEisa former IndianAmbassadortoChinaandhasalsobeenHighCommissionertoPakistan. InthisE-XplainedeventbeforeanationwideaudienceonZoom,heinterpretsChina’s intentions inthebuild-upontheLAC,andtheimplicationsof thestand-off

GautamBambawaleinconversationwithShubhajitRoy(above)ofTheIndianExpress

AASHISHARYANNEWDELHI, JULY8

INSTAGRAMONWednesday launched itsshortvideofeaturecalledReelsinIndia.ButitisnottheonlyapptryingtoslipintothespacevacatedbyTikTok.Infact,lessthanafortnightafter the Ministry of Electronics andInformationTechnology(MeiTY)banned59Chineseapps,GooglePlayStoreandApple’sAppStore are teemingwith alternatives totheseplatformsandsoftwareapplications.Not all of them are new. For instance,

Roposo, which has an offering similar toTikTok, have been around for a few years.However, thisapp fromthe InMobiGrouphas seen an exponential increase in userbaserecentlyandnowclaimsover100mil-lion users. A lot of the newentrants havenowherenearthesenumbers,noraretheyable tooffer theprivacy featuresof thees-tablished apps, making them prone tohackingorstealingofcriticaluserinforma-tion, experts said.

Whatarethesenewapps?According to experts, there are two

kinds of apps that have rushed to fill thevacuumcreatedbyChineseapps.Thereareestablishedappswhichhavebeenaroundforavery longperiodof timeandwereal-

ready competingwith the Chinese offer-ings.Others,however,arelike‘fly-by-nightoperators’,whichhavedownloadedentireappcodes fromonlinemarketplacessuchas Codecanyon and are trying to take ad-vantage of the anti-China sentiment, cy-ber-securityexpertswarned.“These apps canbebought fromonline

marketplaces foras littleasRs3,000.Thesescriptsareeasytobuy,andeventheowneroftheappsdoesnotknowhowtheappworks.Now,if10peoplebuythesamescript,alltheappswillhavethesameflaw,”independentsecurityresearcherIndrajeetBhuyansaid.This is exactly what happened with

TikTokcloneMitron,whichaPakistanicod-ingcompanyclaimedwasbrought fromitfor just $34. The app is back now afterGooglePlaystoreremoveditforawhilebe-causeof privacypolicyviolations.

Whataretheproblemswiththeseapps?One of themajor problems, cyber-se-

curity experts said, is the lack of data pri-vacynormsandguidelines in theseapps.“Thenationalityof anappisn’tenough

to guarantee its safety. One source of vul-nerabilityofcourseistheapponthephone,but also where is it centrally stored, andhowit iskeptalsomatters. The locationofthe data by itself does nothing,” RamanChima, Asia-Pacific policy director atAccessNow,explained.With thenewerapps fromthesmaller

developers,thereisnoclarityonwhatper-missionsare soughton thedevice. For ex-ample,most of the alternatives launchedover the past 10 days seek permissions toviewcontactsandgallery.APune-basedcyber-securityresearcher

warned thatwith little knowledge aboutwho owns these platforms andwhethertheapp’scodealsoscansandstoresprivatedataofauser,nooneislikelytobeheldac-countable incaseof abreach. “Forwelles-tablishedapps, their reputation is at stakeand thereforewill seek only enough datato run the programme. These new apps,which have rushed to take benefit of thevacuum, have nothing to lose. Even if theappisreadingandstoringyourprivatechat,thereisnowaytoknowbecausenohasanyideaofwhat their codescontain,”hesaid.

Usuallyanewapplikethistakesmonthsto get a decent number of users. However,inthepresentwaveevensuchappsareget-ting tens of thousands of downloads. Evenfor someof the older apps, the sudden in-creaseintheiruserbasewithcreatevulner-abilities because of a lack of data handlingcapacityorsafetymeasures,theexpertssaid.

Dosuchappsbodewell for theIndianappecosystem?Despitethesurge,expertsdon’tseethis

as a long-term phenomenon, or any ofthese apps developing into world classproducts. “They (users)willquicklymoveon to easily available alternatives. In theshort term, someknockoffsmight appearbut in the longer run, it is a chance for theecosystemtomatureandtaketheplaceleftvacant,” technology research firmCounterpoint said inanote.Other experts, however, highlighted

that India cannot benefit from creating awalledgardeninwhichonlydomesticappsare allowed. “There aremany other appswhich are international andperhaps for agoodreason.Thatisalwaysgoingtobethecase. The systemwill mature only whenyouhavedomesticappswhicharegloballyor even regionally competitive. A lot ofIndianappsarenotaggressivelymarketed,”Chimasaid.

Roposo, similar toTikTok,hasgrowninrecent time.Mitron,onceremovedbyGooglePlay, isnowback,

A crop of new apps:why users should bewary

THISWORDMEANS: PATROLLINGPOINTS (PPS)

TOP 10STATES

INDIA COUNT: 7,42,417 (20,642 DEATHS)

2,17,121Maharashtra

1,18,594Tamil Nadu

21,404Rajasthan

29,968 UP

1,02,831 Delhi

37,550Gujarat

23,837West Bengal

Have a question on the COVID-19 outbreak andwhat you should/should not do?

Write to explained@indianexpress.com

26,815Karnataka

21,197Andhra Pradesh

27,612Telangana

UnionHealthMinistryupdateasof11pm,July8.Somestatesmayhavereportedhighernumbers.Onlystates/UTswithatleastonecaselistedabove.4,56,831 PATIENTSDISCHARGEDIN34STATESANDUNIONTERRITORIES

RESTOFINDIAAndamanandNicobarIslands 147ArunachalPradesh 276Assam 12522Bihar 12570Chandigarh 494Chhattisgarh 3415DadraandNagarHaveli 405Goa 1903Haryana 17999HimachalPradesh 1083JammuandKashmir 8931Jharkhand 2996Kerala 5894Ladakh 1041MadhyaPradesh 15627Manipur 1430Meghalaya 80Mizoram 197Nagaland 625Odisha 10097Puducherry 930Punjab 6749Sikkim 125Tripura 1704Uttarakhand 3230

15/Jun

30,000

20,000

10,000

0

16/Jun

17/Jun

18/Jun

19/Jun

20/Jun

21/Jun

22/Jun

23/Jun

24/Jun

25/Jun

26/Jun

27/Jun

28/Jun

29/Jun

30/Jun

1/Jul

2/Jul

3/Jul

4/Jul

5/Jul

6/Jul

7/Jul

DailyIncrease

DAILY NEWCASESUNTIL JULY 7

CORONAVIRUSDASHBOARD

742,417India

248,379Iran

288,510United Kingdom

301,019Chile

252,513Spain

3,016,515US

1,668,589Brazil

309,278Peru

268,008Mexico

TOTAL CONFIRMED: 11,892,382 DEATHCOUNT:545,485Source: JohnsHopkinsUniversity,updatedat11pmonJuly8 . JHU’sIndiatallyandHealth

Ministry’stally(below)maynotmatchastheseareaccountedatdifferenttimes.

THEWORLD699,749Russia

Jaipur

6WWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

BLUNT CUTCBSEdecisiontoreducesyllabi showsmisunderstandingofstudents’ stress, givesshort shrift towaysof learning

THECOVID-19PANDEMIChaseaten into theacademicyearof schools, cre-ating pedagogical challenges for teachers and learning problems for stu-dents.Thisemergencydemandscreativesolutionsfromthecountry’sedu-cationpolicymakers. Instead,thecountry’spremierexaminationbody,theCentral Boardof SecondaryEducation (CBSE), hasused theblunt andme-

chanicalmeasureof reducing syllabi “byup to30per cent” to “reduce thecourse load forstudentsof Class9 to12”. Thismeans that studentswill graduate to thesenior-secondarylevelwithoutlearningaboutthehumaneyeandthemagneticeffectsofelectriccurrentsorengagingwithsocialscienceconceptssuchas“democracyanddiversity”,“gender,religion,caste”and“popular strugglesandmovements”. Excised fromthesyllabiof classes11and12arechaptersoncitizenship,nationalism,secularismandthePartitionofthecountry.Thealgebrabasic,thebinomialtheorem,andthechapteronmathematicalreasoninghavebeensacrificedat thealtarof “curriculumrationalisation”. TheCBSEand theUnionMinistryofHumanResourceDevelopmentreasonthatthecutswill“easetheburdenonstudents”.Buttheir reasoningactually reflectsanold failingof educationpolicy-making in India—therehasbeenscarcelyanyattemptamongstpolicymakerstounderstandwhatactuallystressesthechild.The“courseload”hasbecomeaneasyscapegoatforstudentanxiety.Teachershavebeengiventhevagueinstructionthatthedroppedtopicsaretobe“ex-

plained to students to the extent required to connect different topics.” They have alsobeentoldthatthesetopics“wouldnotbeapartofeitherinternalassessmentortheboardexamination”.Suchtrivialisationofknowledgeissymptomaticofanoutlookthatregardstextbooksasassemblagesof facts,whichhave tobememorisedandregurgitated inex-aminations—thecurriculumonlyservestheutilitarianfunctionofenablingstudentstopass examinations. This thinking has fostered an ecosystem inwhich coaching “insti-tutes”mushroomandthereisbriskbusinessinguidebooksandcompendiaofquestionsof past examinations and “model answers”. There is now a growing body of scholarlyworkwhichshowshowtheemphasison“modelanswers”standsinthewayofstudentsapproachingexaminationquestionsinacreativeway.Thesefaultlinesinthesystemwerealsoexposedby theVyapamscaminMadhyaPradesh,more thanadecadeago.Educationstudiesexpertshavelongagreedthatthecurriculumisnotalwaysthemain

causeofstressforstudents.Theyhaveshownhowpedagogicalsystemsaredisconnectedfromachild’s lived reality andunderlinedhowtheexamination-centred education sys-temrobsherofthejoysofacquiringknowledge.Thechurncreatedbythepandemicshouldhaveledto—itcanstillspark—conversationsonevolvingteachingmethodsthatencour-agestudentstoapplyfactstorealworldproblemsandmotivatethemtoseekknowledge.Instead, theCBSEhaschosentoknockdownsomeof thebuildingblocksofknowledge.

CRUEL AND RECKLESSTrumptries to turnhealthcrisis intopollopportunity,usingschools, collegesaspawns.Awelcomepushbackhasbegun

HEADSOFGOVERNMENTwillbejudgedbyposterityontheintelligenceandintegritywithwhichtheyarefacingtheCOVID-19challenge.Goingbyhis record so far, US PresidentDonald Trumpwill be rememberedprimarilyforhisattemptstoduckitortopoliticiseapublichealthdisas-ter as he seeks a second term. Both these factorswere on show on

Tuesday,whenhedismissedthe“Chinavirus”againandintensifiedthepushtoreopened-ucational institutions fully,withserious implications for foreignstudents,Americanbusi-nesses and families. American schools andcolleges are rightly considering the reopeningprocesswithextremecaution,andlikeinothercountries,asignificantpartofacademiclifehasgoneonline.ThispresentsapoliticalproblemforTrump,whoseresponsehasconsistedalmostentirelyofdownplayingthepandemic,whichistakingamountingtoll intheUS.OnTuesday, inameetingintheWhiteHouse,Trumpresolvedtotakeacanopenerto

the country’s schools. Hewould evenpressure governors to reopen them, he indicateddarkly.Trumphaschargedthatschoolsarebeingkeptclosedforpoliticalreasons,topre-vent the US from returning to normal life. On the same day, the US Immigration andCustomsEnforcement(ICE)bureaupublishedadraconiannotificationalarmingthemil-lion-oddforeignstudentsintheUS,whichincludeabout2lakhIndiansand4lakhChinese.Theymust leave the country or face deportation proceedings if their institutions havemoved instructioncompletelyonline. Theymustattendsomephysical classes,perhapsbymoving toacampuswhichoffers them,or leavebefore theyare thrownout.Indian studentsmay have become collateral damage in an attack on two targets —

theirChinesepeers,whoformthelargestcohortof foreignstudents,andcampuseswhichdependonthefeestheypay,butrefusetophysicallyreopen.ButtheWhiteHouseshouldremember that thepre-eminenceofUS technologyandbusinessowes to thecreativityand industry of immigrants. The loss of Indian human capital would be felt across theboard, from education,medicine and IT to hospitality. In his enthusiasm to pander toxenophobes, Trump should not forget that the US success storywaswritten by immi-grants.With Harvard andMIT filing a lawsuit against the Department of HomelandSecurity and ICEagency inadistrict court inBoston, challenging the ill-judgedorderoninternational students—HarvardPresident LarryBacowcalled it cruel and reckless—ahearteningpushbackhasbegun.

PLAY TIMECricket returns to the field,withnewrules, the

sameliftingof spirits

FOR SOMEWEEKS now, shortly before they headed out of hotel rooms totrain in the sun, cricketers fromEnglandandWest Indieshavebeen takingtheirtemperature.Ithadtobelessthan37.5Fahrenheit,orelse.Awalkdownthecorridor, and thenonly fourof themin the lift at the sametime, all fourstandingonthefootprintsetchedontheelevatorfloor.Elbowstocallthelift,

elbowstopressthelobbybuttonandsanitisingofhandsastheysteppedouttothegroundfortraining.Morerulesawaitedthemthere:Nohigh-fives,nosalivaontheball,noclose-proximitybanter,nohangingaroundtogether in theevenings.Before they reachedSouthampton, thequiet townwhere theTitanic once set off for

thatill-fatedtripandwherenowthecricketworldhopestostayafloat,theplayersdidtheirownthingtokeepthefitnessandmotivationup.AndwhenEngland’spacerChrisWoakessaysmatter-of-factly,“thisismydayjob,thisiswhatIwanttodo,”inapromotionalvideofromtheEnglandcricketboardon theeveof Testmatch, it seemshe, andotherplayers,are saying theyhavehadenough. It’s timetoplay.West Indies have hadmore challenges to face as theymoved into a bio-secure bub-

ble inEngland.Asthegamedayapproached,other issueshadtobegrappledwith—likethe Black Lives Matters flag they unfurled from the team balcony on a cloudy day.Somewhere,downbelow,MichaelHoldinggaveastirringspeechaboutsystemicracismonlive television.Andwhat theaudiences, andfans?Evenmorethantheplayers, itwasthe fanswhowerevocal about theneed for the returnof sport. Simple, everyday thingsthat theyhadtaken forgrantedhaveassumedanextraordinaryairnow.

INA2015VISITtoSiliconValley—thefirstbyanIndianPrimeMinistertotheUSWestCoastsince the semiconductor revolution in the1970s—PMModisuggestedthat“digitalplat-formswereadvancingcitizenempowermentanddemocracythatoncedrewtheirstrengthfrom constitutions”. COVID demonstratedhowoneelementofDigital India—AadhaarenabledDirect Benefit Transfer— facilitatedquick and targeted action. But COVID alsodemonstrated how large parts of the Indianstate continue to resist, underinvest in, anddelaydigitisation.Wemakethecasethatthethree-phase transition tomandatory digitalpayments, accounting, and transactions forgovernment proposed by the CAG(Comptroller andAuditor General) under anew project and law called DATA (DigitalAccountabilityandTransparencyAct)usestheCOVIDpolicywindowforanempowering,el-egant, and overdue reformwith delightfulconsequences.TheUnionbudgetgrewfromRs197crore

in1947 toRs30 lakhcrore lastyearand totalgovernmentexpendituremaybehigherthanRs70lakhcrore.Buttheformandmannerofkeepingaccountshavemoreorlessremainedunchanged since Independence; manualtransactionsandmanualpaymentsoftenleadtomanually entered data at different stagesin different databases on different systems.Thismakesdataunreliable,violatestheprin-cipleof“singlesourceoftruth”andsabotagestransparency and good governance. DATArecognisesthatdigitallyempoweredcitizensrequiredigitalpublicutilitiesthatnotonlypro-videe-servicesbutmakeallgovernmentrev-enue and expenditure data electronic,ma-chine-readable, granular, comprehensive,purpose linked, non-repudiable, reliable, ac-cessibleandsearchable.AchallengeforDATAisthatgovernment

“computerisation” has oftenmechanisedmanual processes rather than “re-engi-neeredprocesses”.ThishascreatedsiloedITsystemswith disparate databases that lackmodern data sharing protocols for organiclinking likeAPIs (ApplicationProgrammingInterfaces)andbreedvalidconcernsof fiscaldata being incomparable (as basic as salaryexpenditureacrossstates),obscure(largeex-penditures booked under omnibus headcalled other), non-traceable (actual expen-ditureagainsttemporaryadvancesdrawnor

funds drawn on contingent bills), andmis-classification(grantsinaidascapitalexpen-ditureandbookingsundersuspenseheads).Butdataunderliesalltransactional,account-ing,andpaymentinformationandanationalframework and dictionary to consistentlyandaccurately capture, record, report, pub-lishandanalysedatabothverticallyandhor-izontallyacrossgovernmentisnowpossible.DATA hasmany other upsides; recognisingoff-budget transactions (the last Unionbudget took steps towards this fiscal trans-parencyandconsolidation),businessconti-nuity (electronic records cannot be lost ormisplacedlikefilesorpaperrecords),andanincontrovertible audit trail. Most impor-tantly, itwill enable Parliament and legisla-tures to draw “assurance” that each rupeedue to the government has been collected,and each rupee has been spent for the pur-pose itwasallocated.ThestartpointforDATAismandatoryand

commondatastandardsforallentitiesreceiv-inggovernmentfundsinall formsof fundingandtheendpoint isa single searchableweb-sitetoascertaintotalgovernmentfundingbyelementandentity.Butcoveringthedistancebetweentheseneedsthreeelements:100percentend-to-endelectronicdatacapture,datagovernance for standards across all govern-ment entities, and technology architecture.Thefirst isclear;all receiptsandexpendituretransactionsincludingdemands,assessment,and invoices should be received, processed,and paid electronically. The second is com-plex; data standards are rules for describingand recording data elementswith precisemeaningsandsemanticsthatenableintegra-tion,sharing,andinteroperability.Prescribingdataelementsforalltransactionswillensurestandardisation, clarify ambiguity,minimiseredundantdata,andcreateprotocolsforinte-grationacrossdifferentdatabasesacrossenti-ties receiving government funds, collectingrevenues on behalf of the government, andthosedischargingcorefunctionsonbehalfofthegovernment.The proposed government-wide data

standards coupledwith real-timedata cap-turedend-to-endwillenabletheuseofcogni-tive intelligence tools like analytics, artificialintelligence,machinelearning,whichinturnwill support the establishment of budgetbaselines, detecting anomalies, data-driven

project/activity costing, performance com-parisons across departments and agencies,andbenchmarking.Thethirdelementoftech-nology architecturemust ensure that all ITgovernmentsystemsshouldconformtoapre-scribedopenarchitectureframework(forin-stance,IndEA)whileensuringrobustsecurityandmaintainingprivacy.Acitizen-centricviewofasinglesourceof

truth encompassing every rupee of publicmoneywouldmakethe299remarkablepeo-plewhowrote India’s Constitutionproudofthis 21st-century citizen empowerment in-novation.Recurringoperationswill requireaDataGovernanceAuthorityandtheproposedthree-year timeline is doable; one year forstandard-settingby thedatagovernanceau-thority, twoyearstoministries/departmentsof theGovernment of India and states, andthree years to all other recipients of govern-mentmoney such as local and autonomousbodies.Abiggifttothisprojectcouldbea12-monthmandatory deadline for all govern-ment payments to godigital; badbehaviourcurrentlycoststheRBIRs4,000croreinbankagency commissions becausemanyparts ofthe government do not use the RBI’s free e-kubersystem.A wonderful new book Midnight’s

Machines: A Political History of Technology inIndia byArunMohan Sukumar chronicles alesser-knownpolitical project that beganonAugust151947;theIndianstate’sundertakingtoinfluencehowcitizensthoughtabouttech-nology and its place in society. He suggeststhatMadanMohanMalaviya’s 1916dissentnote as amember of the Indian IndustrialCommission seeded the Indian state’s inter-est in technology and drew a blueprint forIndia’smodernisation.India’scurrentgapbe-tweenthedigitisationoftheprivatesectorandgovernmentoftenreflectsthe1972DandekarCommittee recommendation that no entityinstallacomputerwithoutfirst“justifying”itsusetoemployeesandtheirtradeunions.Thismeans our rights as consumers are higherthanourrightsascitizens.But100yearsafterPanditMalaviya’s forceful note, the digitisa-tionof the Indianstateproposedby thegov-ernmentandCAGimaginesagiantleapinem-poweringourcitizens.

SabharwalandPhatakarewithTeamLeaseServicesandIITBombayrespectively

A challenge for DATA is thatgovernment‘computerisation’ has oftenmechanised manualprocesses rather than ‘re-engineered processes’. Thishas created siloed ITsystems with disparatedatabases that lack moderndata sharing protocols fororganic linking like APIs(Application ProgrammingInterfaces) and breed validconcerns of fiscal data beingincomparable (as basic assalary expenditure acrossstates), obscure (largeexpenditures booked underomnibus head called other),non-traceable (actualexpenditure againsttemporary advances drawnor funds drawn oncontingent bills), andmisclassification (grants inaid as capital expenditureand bookings undersuspense heads).

FOUNDED BY

RAMNATH GOENKA

B E C A U S E T H E T R U T H I N V O L V E S U S A L L

§ §

THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020WORDLYWISE

Remember, rememberalways, thatallofus, andyouand I especially, aredescended from immigrants

andrevolutionists. — FRANKLIN D ROOSEVELTTHEEDITORIALPAGE

THE FALLACY OF RANKINGSArchaicperceptions—notcriteriaof excellence—determine ratingsof colleges

THEONSETOFafreshacademicsessioncoin-cideswith the release of institutional rank-ings. Meant primarily to guide and assistprospectivestudentsinchoosingfromamongthe best institutions and the courses offeredby them, therankingsystemcomesoff asaninnovativeattemptatquantifyingexcellence.With30,000institutionsofdifferenttypes

and standards, the IndianHigher EducationSystem(IHES)istheworld’sthird-largestsys-tem. Theneed tomap institutional uneven-ness and the inherent qualitative disparitiesin standardsmake rankings significant. Thisexplains the importance of theMHRD-ledNational Institutional Ranking Framework(NIRF). The other systemof ranking that hasgot traction is the India Today rankings.However,whenreadinconjunctionwitheachother, theyproduceconflatingresults.For example, theNIRF for 2020-21 in the

colleges'categorydeclaresMirandaHouseasthe best college, assigning Lady Shri RamCollege andHinduCollege second and thirdpositions respectively,while the India TodayrankingsdeclareHinduCollegeasthebestcol-legeforartsandscienceandthesecond-bestcollege for commerce following Shri RamCollegeofCommerce. It is interestingtonotethatMiranda House does not have a com-mercedepartmentanddespitebeingrankedbehindHinduCollegeasperIndiaTodayrank-ings,itgetsthecovetedtoppositionintheNIRF

rankings.Whilesuchconfusionaccruesonac-countofdivergentweightageaccordedtopa-rameters, all the rankings end up assigningthetoppositionstoafewselect institutions.According to the declaredmethodology

(2019) in the college category, theNIRF allo-cates40percentweightagetoteaching-learn-ingoutcomes,whichisderivedfromamath-ematical calculation of student strength,students-teacher ratio, permanent/tempo-raryappointments,numberofPhDholdersinfacultypositionsaswellasfinancialresourceutilisation.Itaccords10pointstooutreachanddiversityquotients,another15and25percenttoresearchoutputandgraduationoutcomesrespectively, and 10 points to perceptionsamongstemployersandacademicpeers.However, Iwould argue that despite be-

ing based on a strongmethodological plat-form,theNIRFrankingsfail inaccomplishingthemandateofsegregatingthechafffromthewheat. This is because the so-called top col-leges top the charts largely onaccountof ar-chaicperceptions,triggeringthebestintakes,whichmakes themscore high on academicparameters. The student strengthor the fac-ulty-studentsratioisnotsomethingthesecol-legescandomuchabout.Beinggovernment-funded,theyareboundtoadmitallthosewhomakeitpasttheirdeclaredcut-offmarks.Thesameis trueof thediversityquotient.

Noneof thesecollegeshasanysay indesign-

inganypolicyparameterthatwouldencour-ageordiscouragestudents’recruitmentsfromvariedbackgrounds.Intermsofresourceuse,mostoftheresourcesarerigidlyfixedandeventhe slightest deviations attract penal action.Theappointmentsandpromotionsof facultymembersarecontrolledbytheirrespectiveaf-filiatinguniversities, and entirely independ-ent of anymerit-based distributivemecha-nism.ThepointisthattheexistingregulatorymechanismsoftheIHESdonotallowanyflex-ibilitytodevelopinnovativepedagogyorout-reachanddiversityformulaeontheirown.Alltheyneedtodoistosticktothegovernment-setpolicydirectionsandfeel luckyif itrains.Itisnotsurprising,therefore,tofindalmost

the same set of colleges topping the charts.Theydowellbecausetheyhaveafeedercadreof the best. The application of a rankingmethodology designed for an open anddy-namic systemwhenapplied to a closed oneonlyendsupconflatingandconfoundingre-alities.Itisnottosaythattheso-calledtopcol-leges in Indiadonothavethedriveor theca-pabilitiestoexcelindependently.Butforarealassessment,theywouldneedtobefreedfrominherentstructuralrigiditiesandbebroughtatparwitheachother.

ThewriterteachesPoliticalScienceatHinduCollege,UniversityofDelhi.Views

expressedarepersonal

It is not surprising,therefore, to find almost thesame set of colleges toppingthe charts. They do wellbecause they have a feedercadre of the best. Theapplication of a rankingmethodology designed for anopen and dynamic systemwhen applied to a closed andrigid one only ends upconflating and confoundingrealities.

OPPOSITION WALK OUTALMOST THE ENTIRE Opposition todaywalked out of the Lok Sabha amidst an un-usual display of tempers and heated ex-changeswiththetreasurybenchesandeventhespeakerafter40minutesofadeterminedbutunsuccessfulattempttogetanadjourn-ment motion admitted on “alarminggrowth” of incidents of atrocities againstwomenandpeopleofmarginalisedcommu-nities. Only eight oppositionmembers, be-longingtotheDMK,theMuslimLeagueandthe National Conference remained in thehouse. The storm sparked off followingheatedexchangesbetweentheSpeakerandJyotirmoyBasuandChandrashekharreached

a flash point after the young Congress (I)membersstartedshoutingattheOpposition.

ATROCITY IN MPAGITATED OPPOSITIONMEMBERS todayrapped theMadhya Pradesh governmentover agruesome incidentof anallegedcaseof rape inMorena. The government admit-ted the beating and torture but disclaimedrape.MadhyaPradeshchiefministersaidthegovernmentacceptedthe“gravity”ofthesit-uationandproperactionwouldbetakenac-cording to the judicial process. A significantaspect of this heated debatewas that noneofthe11womenmembersparticipatedinit.Thewomenmembershadalsoshownindif-

ferencewhenanothersuchissuewasraisedin thehouse fivedaysago.

RELATIONS WITH ASEANTheIndiangovernmenthassoughttoassurethemembersof theASEANthatitsrelationswith itsmemberswill not be adversely af-fected by its decision to recognise the pro-Vietnamese Heng Samren regime inKampuchea.ThisassurancewasgivenbyEricGonsalves, Secretary in the Ministry ofExternal Affairs, yesterday to the ambassa-dorsofASEANcountries.Themembercoun-tries of the group, who still recognise theKhmerRouge government, have been criti-calof India’sdecision.

JULY 9, 1980, FORTYYEARSAGO

Chandrachur Singh

Digitising the stateAthree-phasegovernmentprojectusesCOVIDpolicywindowforamuchneededreform

Manish Sabharwal andDB Phatak

Jaipur

7THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

WHATTHEOTHERSSAY“The French president’s time in office has been beset by crises. As a deeppost-coronavirus recession looms, the biggest one is yet to come”

— THEGUARDIANTHE IDEASPAGEWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

In the immediate now, andforever, we must stopworrying about the learninggaps, but think about howour children will cope withanxiety, uncertainty andchange. Can our childrenbreathe, meditate, relax,experience tenderness, trust,and do they know if theyhave a self to find? If what isbeing taught in school and athome is not connected withthe child’s happiness,survival and sanity, then,who is caring for ourchildren?

Who is caring for children? Quid withouta quo

BILATERALAGREEMENTSareanoutcomeofnegotiations.Togetsomethingyouwant,you yield on others. There is quid pro quoand reciprocity. Thanks to the GeneralAgreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT),since1948, reciprocityhas beenbuilt intothe World Trade Organisation (WTO).Gainsandlossesneedn’talwaysbedefinedinnarroweconomicterms—thequidandthe quo can be strategic. However, a quidwithout the quo doesn’t sound rational.Outside the then socialist bloc, Indiawasthefirstcountrytoestablishdiplomaticre-lationswiththePeople’sRepublicofChina(PRC). This happened on January 1, 1950.Pakistanfollowedafewdayslater.Indiafol-lowed through, in October 1954, with atrade agreement with PRC, apparentlybasedon“equalityandmutualbenefit”.Atleast, that’s what the preamble to theagreementsaid.Thistradeagreementover-rodemanyhistoricalrightsIndiapossessed(trade missions/trading posts) in Tibet.Theywere signedaway. Therefore, for thebenefit to bemutual and not unilateral,Indiamust have gained something. Thiswasanarrowtradeagreement.Unlikecon-temporary times, there was no talk ofcross-borderlabourorcapitalmovements.The gains could have been trade, or non-trade.Inanysuchtradeagreement,whilene-

gotiating, negotiators try to identifyprod-ucts where their country has a compara-tive advantage, though comparativeadvantage is necessarily dynamic andchanges over time. I try to getmarket ac-cess for itemswheremy country is com-petitive and try to bargain and preventmarketaccessforitemswheremycountryisrelativelyuncompetitive.Thisistheprin-ciple behind trade negotiations. As broadheads,Chinawasallowedtoexport—cere-als,machinery,minerals,silkandsilkpiece-goods, animal products, paper and sta-tionery,chemicals,oils,andmiscellaneousitems. India was allowed to export —grams, rice, pulses, kyanite, unmanufac-tured tobacco, rawmaterials andunman-ufacturedores,woodandtimber,hidesandskins, chemicals, vehicles, andmiscella-neous items. At that time, both countrieswereplanningto industrialise,Chinawitha first five-year plan in 1953, Indiawith afirst five-year plan in 1951. That being thecase, youwould expect industrialisationaspirations, andmoving away from agri-culture, tobereflected in itemseithersidewas trying to push. If you look at thosebroadheads,thisisnottheimpressionyouget.Forexample,Indiawouldexportwoodandtimber,butChinawouldexportpaperand stationery. China would export ma-chinery,butIndiawouldexportrawmate-rialsandunmanufacturedores.Thatis,bar-ring chemicals and vehicles, Indiawouldremain a primary produce exporter to

China,acontinuingtrendthistradeagree-mentcontributedto.However,China’sex-ports would be broad-based and havemanufacturing items.So far, I have stuck to broad heads and

theseareheadsasmentioned in the tradeagreement.Thoseweren’tdayswhentradenegotiatorsfollowedharmonisedcustomsnomenclatureswith digits pinning downitems.Suchphysicaldescriptionssufficed.Let’s lookatsub-heads,underthosebroadheads.Under paper and stationery, we find

newsprint,mechanical pulp-freeprintingpaper, packing paper, stencil paper, blot-ting paper, fountain pens, pencils, ink,printing ink,andnumberingmachines.Atthattime,Indiahadastrongdomesticbaseinproducingallthese.Indeed,whenArticleXVIII of GATTwasamended in1954 to in-troduceArticleXVIIIB, justifyingquantita-tive restrictions (QRs) on imports on thebalance of payments grounds, one of theeight items India imposed QRs on wasfountain pens. China’s fountain penman-ufacturing base in Shanghai, other thanHero,isof latervintage.TheShanghaiHeroPenCompany traced its antecedents backto 1931. That is when the Wolff PenManufacturingCompanywasfounded,re-namedShanghaiHeroPenCompanylater.Companies like Jinhao didn’t exist then.Given India’s fountainpenand inkbase, itwas a bit strange that in 1954, it was pre-decided thatChinawouldhaveacompar-ativeadvantageinexportingfountainpensand ink and Indiawould not. To reiterate,weclampeddownon importsof fountainpens from the rest of theworld, allowedthemspecificallyforChinaanddidn’twishto export our own to China. If Hero pensbecame ubiquitous in later decades, thatwasn’t only due to smuggling throughNepal.Thosewerelegitimateimports.Thisisonlyanexampletoillustratethebroaderpointaboutabiased tradeagreement.Tradeisnotbasedonnarrownotionsof

comparative advantage. A country can si-multaneouslyexportandimportthesameitem. However, if an item figures in onecountry’s list and not on the other’s, thatsuggestsanoddkindofpreference.Inmar-ket access schedules, items specificallymentionedareimportant.What’sdumpedinto a “miscellaneous” basket is relativelyinsignificant. If you scrutinise the sched-ules, you will find non-manufacturingitems in China’s miscellaneous list, butmanymanufactured items in India’smis-cellaneous list (light engineering, plasticmanufactures,cement,agriculturalimple-ments, paper). By any yardstick, the 1954agreementwas one-sided. Today, any ne-gotiator who agreed to this would behauled over coal. Nor, since GATTwas al-readybeenestablished in1948, couldoneclaim that India lacked in relative negoti-atingcapacity.I mentioned the quid pro quo gains of

trade or non-trade. Obviously, therewerenotradegains.Onegaveawayandreceivedlittleinreturn.Non-tradegainsarealsodu-bious. “Equality andmutual benefit” waspicked up from the trade agreement andincorporated into Panchsheel later in thesameyear.

Thewriter is chairman,EconomicAdvisoryCouncil to thePM.Viewsarepersonal

Pandemichasbeendevastating foradolescents. Identifying theirareasof stress,detachmentandconfusionmustbe integralpartof teaching-learning in timeof crisis

“MARCH20,2020,hasbeenaturningpointinmylife.All thatIvalued,thehumantouch,tangibleconnections,programmes,engage-ments, get-togethers, festivals and assem-bliesseemtohave lostallmeaning. In fact, IthinkIhavegrownupveryfastascomparedto any other generation of my age. Today,morethanever, I feel triggered, floodedandoverwhelmed by this situation. The ques-tion thatwells up inmymind iswhat hap-pened to yesterday?Whatwill happen to-day? Howwill I step into tomorrow?Mydreamshavebeen replacedby stress, anxi-ety anduncertainty.”Thiscryofhelpcamefromanadolescent

inschool,whowasunabletocope.Thecoro-navirusapocalypsehasbeendevastatingforadults,butadolescentshavebeenimpactedby it in amuchgreatermanner.Between the ages of 13 to 17, teens and

tweenshaveincreaseddevelopmentalmo-tivation thatmakes it hard to isolate them.Thehormonalchangesduringpubertycom-binedwithadolescentdynamicsmakethemhighly attuned to social status and peergroups.Caughtinavacuum,atatimewhenthey

were ready to launch themselves, manyteensarewadingthroughcomplicatedemo-tions. They have had to adjust to onlinelearning, isolated from their friends, andeliminatemeaningfuleventsfromtheircal-endars. They mourn the loss of schoolgroups, sports and informal get-togethers.The ritual of going to class andhangingoutwithpeoplewhotheyhavegrownupwith,even if they have not been close friends,seemsover.Tillnow,themajorityofchildrenwerein

avacationmode,buttherealityofnotgoingback to school has suddenly dawned uponthembecausethepandemicshowsnosignsofabatement.Levelsof frustration,nervous-nessanddisconnectionhavebecomemuchgreater.Anostalgiaofeventspre-Marchhasbecome intense.A lot of adolescentshope toget back so

theycanhavea little timetoofficially closethebookontheir lives inschool.Duetothispandemic, children are afraid of venturingoutside their homes. Suddenly, theirsafety and security has been threatenedand challenged from multiple angles.The more common stressors that teensare facing are loved ones becoming ill,non-stop pandemic news, familyeconomics with their parents losingjobs, loss of traditional milestones intheir school activities that are significantritesofpassage, fearof catchingaflight,vis-itingagrocerystoreorevengoingtoaden-tist. All these have impacted their mentalhealth.Adolescence is a state of major transi-

tion. It’swhentheystart findingtheir iden-tity, theirsenseof self fromtheirpeergroup.If at this crucial period, they are caught up

in processing a range of very intense emo-tions from fear and anger to sadness andgrief, theresultcanleadtoachronicanxietydisorder.Different teens are having different re-

actions.Forintrovertedadolescents,thecur-rentsituationisgivingthemasenseofcalmor relief. The extroverts, whose energy isrecharged by communication, are devas-tatedby thequarantine.It is very important tobeon the lookout

forwarningsignsofdepression,whichrangefromemotionalchanges, feelingsofdespairandemptiness,mentalchanges,difficultyinfocusingandthinking,physical changes in-cluding eating habits, weight and sleepingpatterns. It is imperative that we take veryseriously,actionsofself-harmorevenwordsthatmay lead to it.Disordershaveemergedaffectingmood

swings,behaviourandsleepingpatternsdueto the excessive use of technology. This 24-hour rhythm has now become the newnorm,andhasbrokenupthespacebetweenwakingandsleep.Parents are trying to balance their own

workandtheremote-learningschedulesoftheir children, trying to find ways to helpthemcope.Parentshavetoacknowledgetheanxietiesof theirchildrenandhaveanopenand honest discussion about the strugglesthey are facing, butwith a level of reassur-ance.Adolescentswatchadults forpsycholog-

ical cues. If parents are calm, the children,inturn,willbemoreconfidentof theirwell-being. What may seem trivial to an adultmaybevery important toateenoratween.Dismissing or minimising their feelings is

not the best approach: Parentsmust showcompassionandvalidatetheirconcernsbe-cause they will not get themoments theyaremissing back. The citation ceremonies,farewells, annual days, school carnivals, allof these make up the sights, sounds, feel-ings and fragrances of the growing-upyears. It is theirparticipationandreactiontothese that will make them the adults oftomorrow.Schools and the homes have changed

roles. The online teachingmodel has to beembedded with an emotional compassmore than anything else asmental healthissues have already pinnacled and thedominoeffect isgoingtobefeltacrosstime.Social-emotional learningwillhelpchildrentocopeandpreventarousal symptomsandstrongnegativeemotions.Capsulesofmed-itation, yoga, motivational conversationswillhelptodeconstructtheconflictthatchil-dren are facing. Identifying their areas ofstress, detachment and confusion shouldbecome an integral part of the teaching-learningexperience.In the immediate now, and forever, we

muststopworryingaboutthelearninggaps,but thinkabouthowour childrenwill copewith anxiety, uncertainty and change. Canourchildrenbreathe,meditate, relax,expe-rience tenderness, trust, and do they knowif they have a self to find? If what is beingtaught in school and at home is not con-nectedwith the child’s happiness, survivaland sanity, then, who is caring for ourchildren?

Thewriter is principal, Springdales School,PusaRoad,NewDelhi

MODEL STATE

THIS REFERS TO the editorial, ’Crisis ofthefuture’(IE,July8).TheMidDayMealschemehasbeen inthenewsforall thewrong reasons — from corruption tonon-nutritionalmeals being provided.Keralahasindeedbeenatorchbearernotonly in providing cookedmeals evenduringthepandemicbutinhandlingtheCOVIDcrisis. Itwasonlyafter theNHRCand Patna High Court orders that theBihargovernmentsprangintoaction.AllotherstatesneedtolearnfromKerala.

BalGovind,Noida

FAR APARTTHIS REFERS TO the article, 'Line of ac-tual decontrol'(IE, July 8). The govern-ment’smeasures todiscourage the im-port of Chinese goods may end uphurting India'seconomic interest inthelongrun. Indiadoesnothavetheabilitytoproducecheap,qualityproducts.Thetechnological gap inmanufacturing visavisChina is vast. Thiswillmakeprod-uctscostlier,andthepeoplewillsuffer.

GracySingh,Delhi

LEARNING VS EXAMSTHISREFERSTOthe report, 'CBSE to re-duceburden,crunchsyllabusforClass9to12’, (IE, July8). SinceCOVID-19 isun-likely toendsoon,what ismore impor-tant— survival or saving the academicyear?Whyjeopardise the futureof stu-

dentsbyholdingClass9 to12exams in2020-21on thebasis 70per cent of thesyllabus?Won’t these studentswith a30percentgapintheirknowledgestareblanklywhentheygotohigherclasses?

VarinDhir,Ahmedabad

REVIEW QUOTASTHISREFERSTOthearticle,'Socialinjus-tice’(IE,July8)Thecaste-basedreserva-tioninlegislatures,education,andpub-lic employment is unique to India. Thefounding fathers of our republic origi-nallyextendedreservationtolegislaturesonlyandthattoofor10years.Theyleftittofuturegenerationstomakeanassess-mentof thispolicyperiodically.

SudipKumarDey,Kolkata

LETTER TO THEEDITOR

THE JANUARY10 judgmentof theSupremeCourtoninternetrestrictionsinKashmirwascriticised as one “ignoring rights and reme-dies”. TheMay11 judgmenton thesame is-suewasdescribedasan“abdicationofduty”.Theformerjudgment, inAnuradhaBhasinvsUnion of India, laid down guidelines to testthevalidityof internetsuspensionordersandtheirperiodicreview.TheMay11judgment,inFoundationforMediaProfessionalsvsUTofJammu&Kashmir, ordered the constitutionof a special committee to review theorderspassedbytheJ&Kauthoritiesbyapplyingthesafeguards laid down by the Court in itsJanuary 10 judgment. In a recent webinarhostedbyCANfoundationHarishSalvecau-tioned:“EverybodywhohasapointofviewtodaythinkstheSupremeCourtisanationaldartboard, onwhich everybodywho has apoint of view, has the right to throw a dart.Thismust stop.”The case is about internet availability in

Kashmir,whichhasavexedbackgroundanda complex geo-political history. It has beenonthereceivingendofwellorchestratedandincessant proxywarwaged by an unstableneighbour. The repeal of Article 370, re-or-ganisation of the erstwhile state of JammuandKashmir and the prospect of a brighterfutureforKashmir, JammuandLadakh,pro-pelledourneighbourintoadesperatemode.The COVID-19 crisis has only added to thecomplexity of the situation on the ground.The recent turn of events bear a testimonyto this trend. The excessive firepower and

hostilityattheLoCandtheurgencyandreck-lessness of terrorist activities in the Valleyexposes the scheme of using even the pan-demic towreakhavoc.Any analysis of merits and demerits of

the SC orders should start from this back-ground information, as a “strict” analysis ofthe law,without facts, is a purely academicexercise. An important facet of modernterrorism is the use of the internet.Cyberterrorismisacontemporaryphenom-enon, wherein terrorists use the internetto influence, communicate and fundviolenceonarealtimebasis.Thereisnogain-saying that Kashmir is also prey to suchtechnology.On August 5, 2019, internet services for

the entire union territory of Jammu andKashmirwassuspended.Acasewasfiledbe-foretheSupremeCourtseekingtoquashtheinternet restrictions imposed under theTemporary Suspensionof TelecomServices(Public Emergency or Public Safety) Rules,2017. Strangely, the eminent counsel, argu-ingthecaseforthepetitioner,concededthathe did not want to challenge the constitu-tionalityoftheRules,ratherhewasonlycon-cernedwith their application. Accordingly,theCourt,beingcognisantofthefactthattheRulesdonotcompletelysecure therightsofcitizens, readintotheRulescertainvaluablesafeguards suchasperiodic review.The J&Kgovernment implemented the SC orderby easing internet restrictions in a gradedmanner.

ThesituationofKashmirisdynamic.Thegovernmenthastobethefront-lineenforcerof the law laid down by the SC. The Courtrecognisesthattheimpositionof restrictionshould be on a proportionate basis. In thepast month, more than 10 terrorism inci-dents have been reported, withmore than15 soldiers/civilians killed. Due to the con-tinuous onslaught of terrorism, internet re-strictionsmayhave to beusedoften for theprotectionof human lives.The constitution of the special commit-

tee by the Court is in furtherance of “bal-anced constitutionalism”. The Constitutionprovides for rights under Part III to be en-forced by all the organs of the government.Accordingly,theCourtcannotbeunderstoodtobethesoleprotectorof rights—theexec-utiveandlegislaturehaveanequalresponsi-bility.The framework the Supreme Court has

createdbyitstwojudgmentsrightlyappliesthisprinciple.First, theSCcreatedstandardsfortheexecutivetoapply, includingreadingintheproportionalityrequirement.Throughits recentMay order, the Court has createdan important forum to review the orderspassedunder theRules.Now, theonus isonthegovernment toshowhowit complies.The first step for the government is to

gatherinputsfromindividualdistrictsacrossJ&K to assesswhether the internet is beingmisused to circulate fake news. Once suchintelligenceisgathered,thematerialsarere-quiredtobeplacedbeforetheconcernedau-

thority.TheCourtnecessarilyalludedtothefact that restrictions cannot be imposed forthe entireunion territory throughomnibusorders — they need to be tailored district-wise.Thefindingsoughttobebasedonver-ifiabledata.Further,thegovernmentshouldconsider bringing anarrowly tailored legis-lation to curtail fake news, not only forJammuandKashmir but also for the rest ofIndia.ThesafeguardsandcaveatsensurethatthefunctionoftheSupremeCourtasanapexinterpreterof lawremainsintact,whileleav-ingthecalibrationtotheexecutivebasedonthegroundsituation.The supposed clarion-call of some

learnedacademiciansandmembersof legalfraternity of “abdication of duty by theSupreme Court” seems to have completelymissed thehard facts in theValley.It will be apposite to quote a few

prophetic lines of one of the greatest legaldoyens,NaniAPalkhivala:“Itistruethateter-nal vigilance is the price of liberty. But it istrue, inevenadeeper sense, thateternal re-sponsibilityisalsopartof thepriceof liberty.Excessiveauthority,withoutliberty, is intol-erable;butexcessiveliberty,withoutauthor-ityandwithoutresponsibility,soonbecomeequally intolerable…. Liberty has a hypno-tising sound;while, unfortunately, respon-sibilityhasnosexappeal.”

Thewriter isa senioradvocatepractising intheSupremeCourtand formersecretary,

SupremeCourtBarAssociation

SCrulingsoninternetrestrictionsinJ&Kupholdbalancedconstitutionalism

Liberty and responsibilityAishwarya Bhati

IDEASONLINE

ONLY IN THE EXPRESS

●●BARKINGUPTHEWRONGTREE:RICHARDKAMEI

●● MARKETDOMINANCETHROUGHACQUISITIONS:

SANJAYKPANDEY

www.indianexpress.com

AmeetaMullaWattal

BibekDebroy

India’s tradeagreementwithChinawasone-sidedtobeginwith

CR Sasikumar

Jaipur

8THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

THEWORLDWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

NEPAL

RulingpartymeetonPMOli’sfuturedeferredagainKathmandu: A crucialmeeting of the rulingNepalCommunistPartytodecide thepolitical futureof beleaguered PrimeMinister K P SharmaOliwas once again deferredonWednesday till Fridaytoallowmoretimeforthetop leaders to reach apower-sharingdeal amidtheheightenedintra-partyrift andhis anti-India re-marks.Astheleadersneedmore time for negotia-tions, the 45-memberStanding Committeemeeting scheduled forWednesday has beenpostponedtoFridaymorn-ing, said SuryaThapa, thePM’s press adviser.Withthis,themeetinghasbeenputoff for the fourthcon-secutivetime.

KPSharmaOli

TOPOFTHEWORLD

PAKISTAN

CourtrejectspetitionsagainstbuildingtempleinIslamabadIslamabad: A Pakistanicourt has dismissed threeidenticalpetitionschalleng-ing theconstructionof thefirst Hindu temple in thecountry's capital. TheIslamabadHighCourt de-livered the judgement lateonTuesday,makingitclearthattherewasnobarontheInstitute of HinduPanchayat,whichwasallot-ted the land for the con-structionof the temple, tobuilditusingitsownfunds.The court hadonMondayreservedthejudgementonthematter.Thepetitionershadasked the court to an-nul theconstructionof thetemple,pleadingthattherewas no provision for thesameinthemasterplanofthenationalcapital.

CHINA

LandslideinHubeiburiesnineBeijing:A landslide buriedninepeopleonWednesdayinChina’sHubei province,thePeople’sDailynewspa-perreported,aftersomeoftheheaviestrainindecadesbrought floods that havekilledmore than100peo-ple.ThelandslideoccurredinHuangmeiCountyintheearly hours and effortswerebeingmadetorescuethepeople,thenewspapersaid. From June1 to July 7,accumulatedrainfallintheregions of Hubei, Anhui,Zhejiang and Chongqinghas reached the highestlevels for this timeof yearsince1961.

KATIEROGERS&APOORVAMANDAVILLIWASHINGTON, JULY8

THETRUMPadministrationhasformally notified the UnitedNations that the United Stateswill withdraw from theWorldHealth Organisation, a movethat would cut off one of thelargest sourcesof funding fromthe premier global health or-ganization in the middle of apandemic.“TheUnitedStates’noticeof

withdrawal, effective July 6,2021,hasbeensubmittedtotheUN secretary-general, who isthe depository for theWHO,” asenior administration officialsaid Tuesday.The departure would take

effect sometime next year,should the United States meetestablished conditions of giv-ing a one-year notice and ful-filling its current financialobli-gations, Stéphane Dujarric, aspokesman for the secretary-general,AntónioGuterres, saidon Tuesday.Thenotificationcompletesa

threat that President DonaldTrump beganmakingmonths

ago, as the death toll from thecoronavirus intheUnitedStatesmounted and Trump sought toblame the Chinese governmentfornotdoingenoughtostopthespreadofthedisease.Trumphasaccused Beijing of hiding thetruescopeof infectionsfromtheWHO, targeting the agency intheprocess.“Theworld is now suffering

asa result of themalfeasanceofthe Chinese government,”TrumpsaidinMaywhenhefirstsaid the United States would

withdrawfromtheorganisation.There is little evidence to

supportTrump’sbelief that theChinese misinformed the or-ganisation.Experts acknowledged that

theWHOhadmade somemis-steps during the pandemic butsaid it had largely done wellgiven the constraints underwhich it operates. Theagency iscoordinating clinical trials oftreatments, aswell as efforts tomanufacture and equitably dis-tribute thevaccine.NYT

MIKEISAACSANFRANCISCO, JULY8

FACEBOOKHASnotdoneenoughtofightdiscriminationonitsplat-form and hasmade some deci-sions thatwere “significant set-backs for civil rights,” accordingtoanewindependentauditofthecompany’spoliciesandpractices.Ina100-pageprepublication

report, whichwas obtained byThe New York Times, the socialnetworkwas repeatedly faultedfor not having the infrastructurefor handling civil rights and forprioritisingfreeexpressiononitsplatformovernondiscrimination.In somedecisions, Facebookdidnotseekcivilrightsexpertise,theauditors said, potentially settinga “terrible”precedent that couldaffecttheNovembergeneralelec-tionandotherspeechissues.“Manyinthecivilrightscom-

munity have becomedisheart-ened, frustrated and angry after

yearsofengagementwheretheyimploredthecompanytodomoretoadvanceequalityandfightdis-crimination,whilealsosafeguard-ingfreeexpression,”wrotetheau-ditors, Laura W Murphy andMeganCacace,whoarecivilrightsexperts and lawyers. They saidtheyhad “vigorously advocatedformoreandwouldhavelikedtoseethecompanygofurthertoad-dresscivilrightsconcernsinahostofareas.”NYT

MAGGIEHABERMAN&ALANFEUERJULY8

US PRESIDENTDonald Trump’sniece describes him in amuch-awaitedtell-allbookasachildinan adult’s body, someone psy-chologicallybrutalisedanddam-aged by his “sociopath” fatherandwhodevelopeddefencesofanger and distrust tomask hisownchronic insecurities.TooMuchandNeverEnough:

How My Family Created theWorld’s Most Dangerous Man,

by Mary L Trump, presents aportrait of the President famil-iar to readers of other books as

a transactional narcissist andaccidentalcommander inchief.ButMaryTrump,aclinicalpsy-chologist, offers a particularlydarkpictureofDonaldTrump’sfatherandhergrandfather,FredTrumpSr.“From the beginning, Fred’s

self-interest skewed his priori-ties,”Mary Trumpwrites. “Hiscareofhischildren,suchasitwas,reflectedhisownneeds,nottheirs.Lovemeant nothing tohim, andhecouldnotempathisewiththeirplight,oneofthedefiningcharac-teristics of a sociopath; he ex-pectedobedience,thatwasall.”

Fred Trump Sr. wanted hiseldest son, Fred Jr. —Mary’s fa-ther—tobea“killer,”ahighformofpraisethatthePresidenthim-self has often used to describepeopleherespects.TooMuch and Never Enough

was scheduled for release nextTuesday.Among the newdisclosures

in the book is Mary Trump’sclaim that Donald Trump paidsomeone to take his college en-tranceexamination.The White House said the

bookwasinMaryTrump’s“ownfinancial self-interest”.NYT

Some of Facebook’sdecisions setbacksfor civil rights: audit

MarkZuckerberghasdefendedFacebookasachampionof freespeech.

Trump shaped by ‘sociopath’ father: niece’s book

DonaldTrumpwaspsychologicallybrutalisedbyhis father, thebooksays

BooksaysUSPresidenthadpaidsomeonetotakehiscollegeentranceexam

JENNIFERSCHUESSLER&ELIZABETHAHARRISJULY8

THEKILLINGofGeorgeFloydhasbrought an intensemoment ofracial reckoning in the UnitedStates. As protests spread acrossthe country, they have been ac-companiedbyopenletterscallingfor—andpromising—changeatwhite-dominated institutionsacrosstheartsandacademia.ButTuesday,adifferenttypeof

letter appearedonline. Titled “ALetter on Justice and OpenDebate,”andsignedby153promi-

nentartistsandintellectuals,itbe-ganwithanacknowledgmentof“powerful protests for racial andsocial justice”beforepivotingtoawarningagainstan“intolerantcli-mate”engulfingtheculture.“The free exchange of infor-

mation and ideas, the lifebloodof a liberal society, is daily be-comingmore constricted,” theletter declared, citing “an intol-erance of opposing views, avogue for public shaming andostracism and the tendency todissolvecomplexpolicyissuesinablindingmoral certainty.”“We refuse any false choice

between justice and freedom,

whichcannotexistwithouteachother,” it continues. “Aswritersweneedaculture that leavesusroom for experimentation, risktaking, andevenmistakes.”The letter, whichwas pub-

lishedbyHarper’sMagazine,willalsoappear inseveral leading in-ternationalpublications,surfacesa debate that has beengoing onprivatelyinnewsrooms,universi-ties and publishing houses thathave been navigating demandsfordiversityand inclusion,whilealsoaskingwhichdemands—andthe socialmedia dynamics thatpropelthem—gotoofar.Andonsocialmedia,thereac-

tionwas swift,with someheap-ing ridicule on the letter’s signa-tories—who includecultural lu-minaries likeMargaretAtwood, JK Rowling and SalmanRushdie,

alongwith journalists and aca-demics— for thin-skinnedness,privilegeand,asonepersonputit,fearof lossof“relevance.”“Okay, IdidnotsignTHELET-

TERwhenIwasasked9daysago,”RichardKim, enterprise directorof HuffPost, saidonTwitter, “be-cause I could see in 90 secondsthatitwasfatuous,self-importantdrivel thatwould only troll thepeople it allegedlywas trying toreach—andIsaidasmuch.”Thedebateoverdiversity,free

expression and the limits of ac-ceptable opinion is a long-burn-ingone.Buttheletter,whichwasspearheaded bywriter ThomasChattertonWilliams, began tak-ing shape about amonth ago, aspartof a long-runningconversa-tion about these issues with asmallgroupofwriters.

Williams said there wasn’toneparticularincidentthatpro-voked the letter. But he did citeseveral recent ones, includingtheresignationofmorethanhalfthe board of the National BookCritics Circle over its statementsupportingBlackLivesMatter, asimilar blowup at the PoetryFoundation, and the case ofDavid Shor, a data analyst at aconsulting firmwhowas firedafterhetweetedaboutacademicresearchlinkinglootingandvan-dalism by protesters to RichardNixon’s1968electoral victory.Signatories include leftist

NoamChomskyandneoconser-

vative Francis Fukuyama. TherearealsosomeleadingBlackintel-lectuals, includinghistorianNellIrvin Painter, poets ReginaldDwayneBettsandGregoryPardlo,andlinguistJohnMcWhorter.Pardlo saidhewas surprised

bysomeoftheblowbacktothelet-ter“fromtheleft”.“Itseemssomeof theconversationhasturnedtowhothesignatoriesaremorethanthecontentoftheletter,”hesaid.Therewasparticularlystrong

blowback over the inclusion ofJ.K. Rowling,whohas comeun-der fierce criticismover a seriesof comments widely seen asanti-transgender.NYT

OPEN LETTER PUBLISHED BY HARPER’S ARGUED FOR OPENNESS TO ‘OPPOSING VIEWS’. IT TRIGGERED A SWIFT REACTION

Prominent artists, writers warn of an ‘intolerant climate’, stirring debate

JKRowlingandSalmanRushdiewereamongthesignatories

KARISHMAMEHROTRANEWDELHI, JULY8

ADAYafterUS immigrationau-thorities announced that inter-nationalstudentscouldnotbeinthe country if their Fall classesweremovingentirelyonline,theMassachusetts Institute ofTechnology (MIT) and theHarvardUniversitysuedtheUS’Immigration and CustomsEnforcement (ICE) and theDepartment of HomelandSecurity toblock thedirective.“Defendants have put both

schoolstoanimpossiblechoice:lose numerous students whobring immense benefits to theschool or take steps to retainthose students through in-per-son classes, even when thosesteps contradict each school’sjudgment about how best toprotect the health of the stu-dents, faculty, staff, and the en-tireuniversitycommunity,” thecomplaint stated.Thecase filed inaUSDistrict

Court inBoston,Massachusetts,claimed that the ICE directivewas “arbitrary and capricious”with“virtuallynoreasoneddeci-sion making” and asked thecourttoholdtheagency’saction

asunlawful.The ICE directive had

shocked international studentsin India, who scrambled to un-derstand if theymet theman-date of having some in-personcoursework tostay in theUS.Thedirectiveapplies totheF-

1 non-immigrant visas for aca-demicworkandM-1non-immi-grant visas for vocationalcoursework and requires schoolofficialstoissuenewvisaformsbyAugust4andoperationalplansassoonasJuly15.Before the directive, Harvard

had already announced it washousingnomorethan40percentof undergraduates and that allclasseswouldgoonlineintheFall.

MIThadannouncedthatitwouldhaveonline instructionfor thoseaway fromcampusandahybridmodelforthoseoncampus.A letter from the Harvard

president stated: “The ordercamedownwithoutnotice—itscruelty surpassed only by itsrecklessness... This comes at atimewhentheUnitedStateshasbeensettingdailyrecordsforthenumber of new infections... Formany of our international stu-dents, studying in the UnitedStatesandstudyingatHarvardisthe fulfillment of a lifelongdream. These students are ourstudents, and they enrich thelearning environment for all...We owe it to them to stand up

andto fight—andwewill.”TheMIT President said in a

letter: “Our international stu-dentsnowhavemanyquestions– about their visas, their health,theirfamiliesandtheirabilitytocontinueworkingtowardanMITdegree. Unspoken, but unmis-takable, is onemore question:Am Iwelcome? AtMIT, the an-swer,unequivocally, is yes.”Othersarealsoplanninglegal

action, including theMassachusettsAttorneyGeneral.Theuniversities’ lawsuit said

thedirective’s “effect—andper-haps even the goal— is to createasmuchchaosforuniversitiesandinternational students as possi-ble.”Studentsreturninghomejustweeks from the start of the se-mesterwas“impossible, imprac-ticable, prohibitively expensive,and/ordangerous,” itsaid.Therewerearoundtwo lakh

Indian students in the US in2019, surpassed only by China,according toa report by theUS-based Institute of InternationalEducation. International stu-dents, often not on financialloans,contributearound$45bil-lion, it said, citing the USDepartmentof Commerce.

FULLREPORTONwww.indianexpress.com

UNIVERSITIESSAY ICEDIRECTIVEARBITRARYANDCAPRICIOUS

Newnational securityofficeopened

HK bans protestsong, other politicalexpression at schools

AGENCIESHONGKONG, JULY8

HONGKONG’Seducationsecre-taryonWednesdaybannedstu-dents from singing the protestanthem “Glory to Hong Kong,”posting slogans with politicalmessages or forming humanchains, saying “the schools areobliged tostop” suchactivities.Thestatementbythesecretary,

Kevin Yeung, ratcheted up thepressure on thepro-democracymovement as Hong Kong resi-dentsstruggletodeterminewhatis acceptable behaviourunder astrict newnational security lawthatChina imposedon thesemi-autonomousterritorylastweek.Students, includingmiddle

schoolers, have been a drivingforce in Hong Kong’s protestmovement.Beijing’s impositionof the national security law lastWednesday — and the subse-quent arrests of teenagers atprotests—hasledsomefamiliesto express concerns that theirchildrencouldbeinjeopardyforsingingpro-democracysongsoreven for expressing such senti-ments in theirhomes.Meanwhile, China on

WednesdayopeneditsfirstofficeinHongKong to implement thecontroversialnationalsecuritylaw.The office for Safeguarding

National Security of theCentralPeople’sGovernmentintheHong

Kong Special AdministrativeRegion was inauguratedWednesday, establishing for thefirst time thepresenceof China’ssecurityestablishmentinthefor-merBritish colony since its han-dover in 1997. The office placesmainlandagentsintheheartoftheterritoryforthefirsttime.

School students inHongKongwereabigpartof themassprotests thatshookthecity inthepastyear.Reuters

Therewerearound2lakhIndianstudents in theUSin2019

Trump threatensto cut federal aidif schools don’treopen in fall

COLLINBINKLEYJULY8

USPRESIDENTDonaldTrumponWednesdaythreatenedtowith-hold federal funding if schoolsdon’t reopen in the fall, and helashedoutat federalhealthoffi-cials over school reopeningguidelines that he says are im-practical andexpensive.TakingtoTwittertovoicehis

frustration, Trump argued thatcountries including Germany,Denmark andNorwayhave re-opened schools “with noprob-lems.” He also repeated hisclaim that Democrats want tokeepschoolsclosedforpoliticalreasons.“TheDems think itwouldbe

bad for them politically if USschools open before theNovemberElection,”Trumpsaid,“butisimportantforthechildren& families.May cut off funding ifnotopen!”AP

Harvard,MITsueafterUS tells foreignstudentswithonlineclasses to leave

Expertsacknowledgedthat theWHOhadmadesomemisstepsduringthepandemicbutsaid ithad largelydonewellgiventheconstraintsunderwhich itoperates.Reuters

A1948Congressionalreso-lutionmandatesthattheUScanonlywithdrawfromtheWHOaftergivingitaone-yearnoticeandpayinganyoutstandingfees.However,withapresidentialelectioncomingupintheUSthisNovember, thequestionofwhethertheUSremainsintheWHOornotwillbeset-tledbywhoeverwinstheracetotheWhiteHouse. JoeBiden,Trump’sDemocraticrival,hasalreadysaidthathewouldreversethemoveifhebecamepresident.ButifTrumpwinsandtakestheUSoutof theWHO,itcouldcall intoquestionthefinan-cial futureof theorganisa-tionwhichcountsonWashingtonasits largestcontributor.

Election resultmayupendmove

US notifies UN of withdrawal from WHO US top court letsemployers denybirth controlcoverage onreligious grounds

ADAMLIPTAKWASHINGTON, JULY8

THE SUPREME Court onWednesdayupheldaTrumpad-ministrationregulationthatletsemployers with religious ormoralobjectionslimitwomen’saccess to birthcontrol coverageunder theAffordableCareAct.Asaconsequenceof therul-

ing, about 70,000 to 126,000women could lose contracep-tive coverage from their em-ployers, according to govern-ment estimates.The votewas seven to two,

withJusticesRuthBaderGinsburgandSoniaSotomayordissenting.Contraception coverage has

emerged as a key battlegroundintheculturewars,oneinwhichsuccessiveadministrationshaveswitchedsides.IntheObamayears,thecourt

heardtwocasesonwhetherreli-giousgroupscouldrefusetocom-plywith regulations requiringcontraceptivecoverage.Thenewcasepresentedtheoppositeques-tion:CantheTrumpadministra-tion allowall sorts of employerswithreligiousormoralobjectionstocontraceptiontooptoutofthecoveragerequirement?In March 2010, President

Barack Obama signed theAffordable Care Act, which in-cludes a section that requirescoverage of preventive healthservices and screenings forwomen. The next year, theObamaadministrationrequiredemployers and insurers to pro-videwomenwithcoverageatnocost for all methods of contra-ceptionapprovedbyUSauthor-ities.Housesofworship, includ-ing churches, temples andmosques,wereexemptfromtherequirement.NYT

Beijing: China said onWednesday it will imposevisarestrictionsonUScitizenswhohaveengagedinwhatitcalled egregious behaviouroverTibet, inanapparentre-taliation against US restric-tions on someChinese offi-cials.ChineseforeignministryspokesmanZhao Lijian saidBeijingwould allowno for-eign interference in Tibetanaffairs. US Secretary of StateMikePompeo,citingwhathecalled human rights abusesby theChinese governmentinTibetanareas, had saidonTuesdaytheUSwouldrestrictvisas for someChinese offi-cials because Beijing ob-structstraveltotheregionbyUSdiplomats,journalistsandtourists.REUTERS

China, US imposevisa restrictionson each other

Jaipur

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THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

ECONOMYWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

GOLD`49,898

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Internationalmarketdatatill1900IST

TAMIL NADU TrANsMIssIoN CorPorATIoN LTD.

sl. No Tender Inviting Authority Specification No. Total

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DIPR/2529/TEnDER/2020

NANDAGOPALRAJANNEWDELHI,JULY8

AMONGTHEmanybehaviouralchanges the coronavirus lock-down has induced is the trendthatpeoplearenowmakingvoicecallsthatlastlongerthanusual.Ericsson’sAPACCTOMagnus

Ewerbringtoldindianexpress.comthat theyhave been seeinghowthe duration of sessions are in-creasing. “Oneveryclearpieceofstatistic thatwemonitor is talk-time—howlongisatypicalvoice

communication. Andvoice callsarenowtypically20to70percentlongerthantheyaretraditionally,”he said in as video interaction,addinghowthis figurehas beenquitestableformanyyears.“Whathas been going up is howoftenyoutalk,butnowweseethatthatthe intensity is therebut thedu-rationisincreasing,whichisasig-nificantchangefromearlier.”Ewerbringsaid thatwhile for

Ericsson it has always beenveryimportanttofollowthecommer-cial implementation of the net-works and thereby lookat traffic

behaviour traffic patterns, in thelast fewmonthstheyhavegotan“extraenergytotodrivethiskindof analysiswiththeCOVIDsitua-tion”. “So,whilewehave freshernumbersandarticulatedconclu-sionsinsomeareas,theyareany-waypointing in a direction thatwehaveseenforsomeyears,”hesaid, citing theexampleofwhen3Gwas launched andhow theynoticednetworkswerebusier inthe eveningwhen peoplewerestreamingcontentathome.

Full report onwww.indianexpress.com

‘Consultations ongoing to bring Indians withvalid residency, work permit back to UAE’ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY8

RESPONDINGTOqueries aboutIndian citizenswith valid resi-dency visas or work permitswanting to travel to theUnitedArabEmirates(UAE),thecountry’sambassador to India AhmedAlbanna said that consultationsareongoingwith theMinistryofExternal AffairsandMinistry ofCivilAviationtoputinplaceanop-erationdedicatedtoflysuchpeo-pletotheWestAsiannation.“There are questions about

IndiannationalsinIndiawithvalidresidency andwork permit forUAE...AsImentioned,theUAEhas

openedtheairportstoallowvisi-tors and residents back intoUAEon two conditions. One is thattheyhavetohaveanICA(FederalAuthority for Identity andCitiz-enship)approval ... andtwo,theyneed tohaveCOVID-19PCR testdonenomorethan96hoursfromthe date of arrival into UAE,”Albanna said, adding that theproblemwas that India hadnotopenedupitsairports for foreigncarrierstoflyIndiancitizensout.“We have been talking and

consultingwith theMinistry ofExternal Affairs andMinistry ofCivil Aviationandhopefully verysoon ... therewillbesomeopera-tion dedicated to those Indianswhoare in Indiawith valid resi-

dency andworkpermit, ICA ap-proval andCOVID-19PCR test tobeabletotravelfromIndiaintotheUAE,”hesaid,atawebinarorgan-isedbyPHDChamberofComm-erceandIndustryWednesday.Lastmonth,theDubaiadmin-

istrationhadannouncedopeningup its airports for residency visaholdersandtourists,uponwhichlow-costairlineAir IndiaExpressapproached authorities to seekpermissiontoflypassengersfromIndia to theUAEon the repatria-tionflightsbuttonoavail.Earlier,UAEhad reprimandedAir IndiaExpress for ferrying passengersfromIndia to theUAEonrepatri-ation flightsmeant tobringbackstrandedIndiancitizens.

BRIEFLYPMatIndiaGlobalWeekNewDelhi: PrimeMinisterNarendraModiwill Thurs-daydelivertheinauguralad-dress at the India GlobalWeek2020.

Goldup`723onglobalcuesNew Delhi: Gold prices inDelhi rose Rs 723 to Rs49,898per10gram.

Instagram’sReelsinIndiaNew Delhi: Instagram onWednesdaysaiditwillstarttesting anew formatReels'in India that will allowusers to create and shareshortvideos.

RossariBiotechIPOonJul13NewDelhi:Rossari Biotechwillcomeoutwithitsinitialshare-saleonJuly13,whichwill end fourmonthsof lullintheIPOmarket. PTI

NodtoEros,STXmergerMumbai:TheCCIonWedn-esday approvedmerger ofEros International PlcwithSTXFilmworks. ENS

COVID impact: Voice calls are now20-70% longer, shows Ericsson study

SBI cuts MCLRby up to 10 bps

ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JULY8

STATEBANKofIndia(SBI)Wedn-esday cut its marginal cost offundsbased lendingrate (MCLR)by5-10basispointsfortenorsuptothreemonths.Itwillcomeintoeffect on July 10.With this, SBI’sMCLRup to3months tenor is at6.65per cent, onparwith its ex-ternalbenchmarklendingrate.Meanwhile, SBI’s executive

committee also approved an in-vestment of up toRs 1,760 croreinthepublicofferingofYesBank.On Tuesday, Yes Bank had ap-provedraisingfundsviaafurtherpublicoffering.

`329.6 cr of NiravModi’s assetsconfiscated: ED

‘Sections of households seerise in savings after lockdown’ENSECONOMICBUREAUMUMBAI,JULY8

OVERTHElastthreemonthssinceIndia announceda lockdownonMarch24,sectionsofhouseholdswitnessed a rise in savings— in-cludingthoseworkinginthefor-mal sectorandsomepartsof theinformal segment—as reflectedin amodest pick-up in JanDhanaccount deposits, bankdepositsandsmallsavingschemes.According to Swiss banking

groupUBS,while forced savingscould be going up in the formalsector on income continuity, alarge chunkof labour employedintheinformalsectorwouldhaveincreasedprecautionary savingsdespitestagnant/reducedincomebyloweringconsumption.

During lockdown,when in-comeforthepoorwaslikelymoreimpacted,thebalanceintheirJan-Dhan deposit accounts rose byaroundRs400peraccountcumu-lativelyintheJunequarter.“Apartof the increase isalsoonaccountof thecentral government trans-ferringmoneyintosuchaccountstohelpbeneficiariesdealwiththedifficultiesduringthelockdown,”UBSsaidinareport.In India, households contrib-

utenearly53percenttobankde-posit outstanding.Depositswithbanks have picked up to 11 percent on year-on-year base as ofJune2020(versusthe7.9percentaverage registered in FY20). Thisis despite the nominal interestrates on termdeposit by banksfallingfurtherby100bpsoverlastthree-months(fromMarch2020).

EXPRESSNEWSSERVICEMUMBAI,JULY8

THEENFORCEMENTDirectorate(ED) Wednesday confiscatedpropertiesworthRs329.66croreofdiamondtraderNiravModiun-der the Fugitive EconomicOffendersAct,2018(FEOA).AnEDstatementsaidthecon-

fiscated properties include fourflatsattheSamudraMahalbuild-inginWorli;aseasidefarmhouseand land inAlibaug; awindmillinJaisalmer;aflatinLondon;res-identialflatsintheUAEandsharesand bank deposits. The agencysaid a special court inMumbaihadon June8directed theED toconfiscate assetsworthRs 1,396crorebelongingtoModi.

ENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY8

TO IMPROVE financial and sol-vency position of state-ownedgeneralinsurancecompanies,theUnion CabinetWednesday ap-provedfundinfusionofRs12,450crore in Oriental InsuranceCompany Limited, NationalInsuranceCompanyLimitedandUnited India InsuranceCompanyLimited. The government hasgiven up plans of merging thethreecompanies thatwasearlierannounced in theUnionBudget.ThisfundingsupportcomprisesRs2,500 crore equity thatwas in-fusedin2019-20,anotherRs3,475crorewillbereleasedimmediately,while thebalanceRs6475 crorewillbeinfusedlater.“Further,theprocessofmerger

hasbeenceased so far inviewofthecurrent scenarioand instead,the focus shall be on their prof-itable growth,” the governmentsaidinastatement.Toenablefundinfusion in these companies, thegovernment has also enhancedtheirauthorisedsharecapital.Thecapital infusionwill enable thethreegeneralinsurerstoimprovetheir financial andsolvencyposi-tion,absorbchangesandenhancethecapacitytoraiseresourcesandimprovedriskmanagement.Theboardsof thethreeinsur-

ancecompanieshadinJanuaryap-provedthemergerprocess,settingthestagefortheformationofabiginsuranceentity. Though formerFinanceMinisterArunJaitleyhadannouncedtheirmergerinBudget2018-19,therewashardlyanymo-mentum in its implementation.Thethreecompanieshavediffer-ent technologyand ITplatforms,andplatformmigrationandinte-grationwouldhavebeenan im-mediatechallenge.TheCabinetalsogavegavenod

forathree-monthextensiontotheongoing EPF (employees’ provi-dent fund) contribution supportfor companies havingup to100workersand90percentof themearning up to Rs 15,000 permonth.FinanceMinisterNirmalaSitharaman had in May an-nouncedtheextensionoftheben-efit under the PradhanMantriGaribKalyanYojanatillAugust.Under the PMGKYpackage,

the governmentwillmakepay-mentof 12per cent of employerand12percentemployeecontri-bution into theEPF accounts forthe eligible companies for thewagemonths of June, July andAugust.ThebenefitwasprovidedearlierforsalarymonthsofMarch,AprilandMay.“TheUnionCabinetchairedby

thePrimeMinisterNarendraModitodayhasgivenitsapprovalforex-tending thecontributionboth12percentemployees’shareand12per cent employers’ shareunderEmployees Provident Fund, to-talling 24 per cent for anotherthreemonthsfromJunetoAugust,2020, as part of thepackage an-nouncedby thegovernmentun-derPMGKY/AatmanirbharBharatin the light of COVID-19, a pan-demic,”anofficialstatementsaid.The total expenditure under

the scheme is estimated tobeRs4,860crorecoveringover72lakhemployeesin3.67lakhestablish-ments.

June equity MF inflows fall 95%on cash flow woes, profit bookingENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI,JULY8

INFLOWSINTOequityschemesofmutual funds (MFs)plummeted95 per cent in June as investorsheld back investment plans andbooked profits amid cash flowconcerns in thewakeof thecon-tinuing lockdown in thecountry.Mutual funds sawanet inflowofonly Rs 240.5 crore in June, asagainstRs5,256.52 crore inMayeven as the benchmark Sensexgained 2,491 points during themonthonthebackofforeignport-folioinflows.

FiguresreleasedbytheAssoci-ation of Mutual Funds of India(Amfi)showthatMFsreportedeq-uitymobilisationofRs13,760croreand redemptions of Rs 13,520

croreinJune.Thetotalnewinflowsintodebt

MF schemes also declined toRs2,861 crore in June from Rs63,665.54croreinMay.Inthedebtsegment,therewasanoutflowofRs44,226croreinJune.ArunKumar,headofresearch,

FundsIndia.com, said, “Equity in-flowshavesloweddownasmanyinvestorsarewaitingforclarityontheirownfuturecashflowsbeforeinvestingfurther.”Anotheranalystsaidit ispos-

sible that some investorsmighthavesoldtheirMFequityportfo-lio when the Sensex bouncedbackinJune.

BMS announces 7-day stir againstjob loss, privatisation of PSUsENSECONOMICBUREAUNEWDELHI, JULY8

BHARATIYAMAZDOOR Sangh(BMS)willobserve‘SarkarJagaoSaptah’(WakeUpGovernment)fromJuly24-30toraiseworkers’issuesatstateandnational levelacross sectorsand industries.TheRashtriyaSwayamsevak

Sangh (RSS)-affiliated tradeunionplanstoholdprotestsanddemonstrationsacrossthecoun-tryagainst“fiveburningissues”:Problemsof unorganisedsectorworkers particularly migrantworkers,non-paymentofwages,huge job losses, suspension oflabour laws and increase in

working hours in many statesand privatisation of public sec-tor undertakings (PSUs), it saidinastatementonWednesday.The decisionwas taken at a

virtualmeetingofnationalofficebearers of BMS on Tuesday,whichwaspresidedoverbyBMSNational President C K SajiNarayanan and convened byGeneral Secretary VirjeshUpadhyay.

Amazon India’s unit gets $308 mnin fresh funds from parent firmREUTERSBENGALURU,JULY8

AMAZON.COMINChasinvested23.10 billion rupees ($308.02million) in Amazon SellerServices, an Indian unit,strengthening the business at atime whenmore people shoponline inabidtoavoidcrowdedpublicplaces.Amazon Singaporemade a

significant portion of financing,data frombusiness intelligencefirmTofler showed.Thecompany’sIndianarmin

May said it would hire 50,000temporary workers to meet asurge in online shopping in the

country.The company, which com-

petes with Walmart Inc’sFlipkart in India, has also beenexpanding its seller network inthecountry.Indian laws allow foreign e-

commerce companies to oper-ateas“marketplaces,”connect-ingbuyerswithsellersonline.AsIndiawentintolockdown,

Amazon encouraged smallshopstojoinassellersonitsplat-forminabidtoboost localbusi-nessesandexpand its reach.Jeff Bezos-led Amazon.com

in January announced a $1 bil-lion investment to bringmorethan10millionsmallbusinessesonline in Indiaby2025.

PRABHARAGHAVANNEWDELHI,JULY8

THEGOVERNMENT is set to an-nouncethecontoursof aschemetoboosttheproductionof41bulkdrugs—ranging fromantibioticstoingredientsforlifesavingTBandheartdrugslikepenicillin-G,vita-min B1, prednisolone and di-clofenac sodium. The scheme,comingatatimewhenIndia’sde-pendence on China for crucialmedicine ingredients has comeunder the scanner, is being fi-nalised this week, The IndianExpresshaslearnt.A technical committee setup

to outline the details of theRs6,940-croreProduction-LinkedIncentive (PLI) scheme, first an-nouncedby theUnionCabinet inMarch,islearnttohavesubmitteditsfinaldrafttotheDepartmentofPharmaceuticals lastweek. Thedepartment is currentlyworkingtobringtheguidelinesout“assoonaspossible”, so that firmscanset

upcapacitytochurnoutthesekeyingredients,aseniorgovernmentofficialdirectlyawareofthedevel-opment told The Indian Express.Under this scheme, the govern-mentwillpaydrugmakers10-20per centof their annual turnoverformakingandsellingthesebulkdrugsasan incentive, dependingon the category of input. For in-

stance,thegovernmentwillpayafirmthathassetupcapabilitiestomake fermentation-based ingre-dientpenicillin-Garound20per-centof their total annual salesofthisproductasanincentive.ThePLIschemeisexpectedto

“encourage”domesticproductionof twocategories of activephar-maceutical ingredients andkey

startingmaterials—chemicalsyn-thesis-basedandand fermenta-tion-based.Around41suchbulkdrugshavebeenapprovedunderthisscheme, includingpenicillin-G, vitaminB1, prednisolone, di-clofenacsodium,valsartanandri-fampicin. The scheme offers a“positive”developmentat a timewhenpharma companies havebeenfacingdifficultieswithsourc-ing affordable bulk drugs fromChina,accordingtoanotherseniorgovernmentofficial.China currently accounts for

nearly 70percent of India’s bulkdrug imports,but thecostof sev-eral of these crucial ingredientshavebeenontheriselately.“There are attractive incen-

tives.Theplanistoannounceitassoonaspossible, andwork is go-ing on thisweek to finalise thescheme,” the first official said,adding itwould thenhave to gothroughprocessesoflegalvettingandapprovals fromtheMinisterofChemicalsandFertilizersbeforeitisfinallyannounced.

“This schemewill help pro-mote self-reliance inactivephar-maceutical ingredients andkeystartingmaterials.Thisisveryim-portant from theperspective ofAtmanirbharBharat,MakeinIndiaand strengthening the supplychain,” said the official. Severalfirmshaveexpressed“huge”inter-estinparticipating,theyadded.Theupper limitof theannual

incentives in this schemewill becapped,however,andwillvaryde-pendingon thebulkdrug. Theseincentiveswillbegiventothefirst136 firms that receive approvalandinvestaminimumamountsetin the guidelines, ranging fromRs20crore toRs400crore, to setup themanufacturing capacitiesforthesebulkdrugs.“Older companieswithavail-

ablelandthatcanbeusedforthispurposewill also be eligible fortheseincentives,buttheywillhavetoputintheminimuminvestmenttocreatethefacilities,”saidoneoftheofficialscitedabove.Onceannounced,itisexpected

totakeayeartosetupthecapabil-itiesforchemicalsynthesis-basedbulkdrugsinIndiaandtwoyearsfor fermentation-based bulkdrugs.Approvalundertheschemewill begrantedbyanempoweredcommitteecomprisingsecretariesofDoP,DepartmentofChemicalsand Petrochemicals, DPIIT,Ministry of Commerce andIndustry,MinistryofEnvironmentandMinistryofHealthandFamilyWelfare.FollowingtheCabinetan-nouncement,DoPhadconstituteda technical committeeunder thechairmanship of Central DrugsStandard Control OrganisationJointDrugsController,DrEswaraReddy, toworkout thedetails ofthePLIscheme.Whileworkhadbeeninitiated

in the last four years to reduceIndia’s dependenceonChina forpharmaceutical ingredients, in-dustryexecutivesearlier toldTheIndianExpressthatnotmuchhead-wayhadbeenmade.

Full reportonwww.indianexpress.com

MOVETOCOUNTER INDIA’SDEPENDENCEONCHINAFORCRUCIALMEDICINE INGREDIENTS

Govttoannounceschemetoboostoutputof41bulkdrugs

Project Gryphon: Twitter workingon potential subscription platformPRANAVMUKULNEWDELHI,JULY8

MICROBLOGGING PLATFORMTwitter,inajob-listingpostedonits websiteWednesday, said itwasbuildingasubscriptionplat-form under the codename“Gryphon”.While the companydid not disclose any further de-tails of the said platform, it saidthat the Gryphon team wasclosely collaborating with thepayments team and theTwitter.comteam.“We are a new team, code-

namedGryphon.Wearebuildinga subscriptionplatform,one that

canbe reusedbyother teams inthefuture.ThisisafirstforTwitter!Gryphon is a teamofweb engi-neerswhoareclosely collaborat-ingwith thePayments teamandthe Twitter.com team. We arelookingforafull-stackengineerto

lead the Payment andSubscriptionclientwork,someonewhovaluescollaborationasmuchaswedoandcanactasabridgefortheengineering team. It’s agreatopportunity for all teams in-volved!”thejobpostingnoted.Twitterhasbeenworkingon

asubscriptionserviceforitsbusi-ness customerswith additionalfeaturessince2017.Followingthenews,Twitter’s

sharesjumpedbyalmost9.7percent, mainly on account of ex-pertspeggingasubscriptionplat-form to diversify the socialme-dia company’s revenue stream,which is currently almost en-tirelydependentonadvertising.

Testing forCOVID-19 inNewDelhionWednesday.Thebulkdrugsunder this schemeincludeantibiotics, ingredients forlifesavingTBandheartdrugs likepenicillin-G,vitaminB1,prednisoloneanddiclofenacsodium. TashiTobgyal

E●EXPLAINED

THETHREEinsurershavedifferenttechnologyandITplatforms,andplatformmigrationandintegrationwouldhavebeenanim-mediatechallenge.

Integrationchallenge

Cabinet drops mergerplan of 3 PSU insurers,okays `12,450 cr infusion

TheRSS-affiliatedtradeunionplanstoholddemonstrationsacrossthecountry

Followingthenews,Twitter’ssharesjumped9.7%onaccountofexpertspeggingasubscriptionplatformtodiversifythefirm’srevenuestream

■The totalnewinflows intodebtMFschemesalsodeclinedtoRs2,861crore inJune fromRs63,665.54crore inMay.

NEWINFLOWSINTODEBTMFSCHEMES

Jaipur

10THEINDIANEXPRESS,THURSDAY, JULY9,2020

SPORTWWW.INDIANEXPRESS.COM

R.N.I.No. RAJENG/2015/64747 Vol. IVNo.175

PrintedandPublishedbyR.C.Malhotraonbehalf of The IndianExpress (P) LimitedandprintedatDBPrint Solutions (AunitofDBCorp. Ltd.), BhaskarPrintingPress, Shivdaspura,RailwayCrossing, TonkRoad, JaipurandpublishedatD-54,GroundFloor, ResidentialRoad, SardarPatelMarg,ChomuHouse,C-Scheme, Jaipur -302001(Rajasthan). Phone:0141-4043972. Fax:01414043973. Editorial office: The IndianExpress (P) Limited,B1/B, Sector–10,Noida–201301. Phone:0120-6651500.Advertisingofficephone:0141-4043972.Chairmanof theBoard:ViveckGoenka,Chief Editor:RajKamal Jha, Editor:UnniRajenShanker, Editor : P.Vaidyanathan Iyer *

(*Responsible for selectionofNewsunder thePRBAct.) Copyright: The IndianExpress (P) Limited.All rights reserved.Reproduction inanymanner, electronicorotherwise, inwholeor inpart,withoutpriorwrittenpermission isprohibited. The IndianExpress®

Milannetthreein5minutesforcomebackwinvsJuveJuventus missed the chance to take a big step toward a ninth successive Serie A title as itlet a two-goal lead slip away in a surprising 4-2 loss at AC Milan.After second-place Laziolost 2-1 at relegation-threatened Lecce earlier, Juventus could have extended its lead at thetop of the table to 10 points with a win on Tuesday.

NBA gears up for its bubble testAsteamscheck-in,organisersdesperatelyhopetheirmeticulousplanningtokeepvenuevirus-freeworks

MARCSTEINJULY8

ASTHEfirstNBAteamsarrivedatWaltDisneyWorld for the resumption of their season,Commissioner Adam Silver reiterated hisconvictionthattherestrictedenvironmentinFloridawillbesaferfortheleague’spersonnelduringthecoronaviruspandemicthanbeinganywhere“off thiscampus.”The ultimate test of that belief had be-

gun just a few hours before Silver’s com-ments, when the Orlando Magic — cour-tesy of a 30-minute bus ride from theirhome arena — were the first of the 22teams to arrive Tuesday morning at WaltDisneyWorld tobegin life in theNBA’s re-stricted-access village.Denver,Phoenix,Utah,Washingtonand

the Brooklyn Nets were also scheduled toarrive Tuesday, with eight teams to followonWednesday and eight more Thursday.Afterweeksofplanningandthecreationofa 113-page guidebook of health and safetyregulations to govern the NBA’s return toplay July 30 after a more than four-monthhiatus,Tuesday’scheck-inswerethebegin-ningofacriticalprocess:assimilatingteamsinto the campus while trying to keep thecoronavirus out.“It’s a very protected environment, but,

again, this virus has humbledmany,” SilversaidTuesdayonFortune’sBrainstormHealthvirtualpanel.“SoI’mnotgoingtoexpressanyhigher level of confidence than:We are fol-lowingtheprotocolsandwehopeitworksaswedesignedit.”JeffWeltman,Orlando’spresidentofbas-

ketballoperations,spokewithreportersviaZoom asmembers of theMagic’s travelingparty settled into their quarantine at theGrandFloridian,regardedasthesecond-tierchoice of the threeDisney hotel propertiesto which teams were assigned based onplayoff seeding.“This has never been done before,”

Weltman said. “All you can do is prepareyourselfasbestaspossiblegiventheveryre-strictedmodes of operation that have beenplaceduponus.Ourguyshavedonethatandnowit’s timetocometogether.”ThosewhoarrivedTuesdaywerealmost

immediately taken to a testing room.While

oncampus,theywillbetestedforthecoron-avirusdaily,andmaskswillbemandatoryinpublicwhenteamsareawayfrombasketballactivities.Afterarrival,playersandstaffmustquarantine for up to two days and registertwo negative tests before they canmovefreelyaroundthepremises.A significant fear is that players or staff

memberswhoinitiallyregisternegativetestsareactually carrying thecoronavirus,whichmedical experts say can incubate for up totwoweeks.Tohelpmitigatethatthreat,play-ersalsoreceivedtwooptionaldevicesintheirrooms:Abeeping sensor to remindcampusresidentstomaintainatleast6feetofdistancebetweenthemselveswheneverpossible,andanOura ring,whichmay help provide earlywarningsofCOVID-19symptoms.“I have been very optimistic for quite a

whilenow, onlybecause I knowthe lengthstowhichandtheextentthattheNBAhasre-

lieduponexpertsandtriedto leavenostoneunturned,”Weltman ..said.Yet even as the first teams arrived, two

morehigh-profileplayerswereruledoutfortherestoftheseasonTuesday:Washington’sBradleyBealandtheNets’SpencerDinwiddie.Beal’s decisionwas not a surprise, as he

hadvoicednumerousconcernsaboutsafetyandtherestrictionsonplayersonceinsidetheNBA bubble. Hewas officially ruled out be-causeofthelingeringeffectsofashoulderin-jury, leavingWashingtonwithout its threebest players: Beal, injured former All-StarJohnWall andDavis Bertans,Washington’ssharpshooting forward who recently an-nounced that he would not play to guardagainstinjuryasheentersapotentiallylucra-tiveoffseasonasa freeagent.Dinwiddie, who tested positive for the

coronaviruslastweekandagainMonday,hasexperiencedheadachesanddizziness.Hean-nounced on Twitter that he and the Netsmadeajointdecisiontoendhisbreakoutsea-son while he remains symptomatic.Averaging 20.6 points and 6.8 assists pergame, Dinwiddie is one of at least five Netsveterans whowill be unavailable for therestart, joining Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving,DeAndre JordanandWilsonChandler.

TheNetswereintalksTuesdaytosignvet-eran center Amir Johnson to replace Jordan,according to two peoplewhowere not au-thorizedtodiscusstheteam’splanspublicly.Jordanalsotestedpositiveforthecoronaviruslastweekandimmediatelyruledhimselfoutof the restart. Chandler cited family reasonsfornotplaying;Durant(Achilles’tendon)andIrving(shoulder)arerecoveringfrominjuries.Theuncomfortablerealityfortheleague,

at thestartof suchapivotalweek, is thatanincreasing number of players have voicedapprehensionabouttherestart, raisingcon-cerns that go beyond the coronavirus andinjury risk — though the fact that at leastseven of the 22 Disney-bound teams overthepast twoweeksclosedtheirpractice fa-cilities at some point because of positivetests surely stokedconcerns.ing on theDisney campus for at least six

weeks,andpotentiallyuptothreemonthsfortheteamsthatreachthefinals.“Iwould imaginemore thanhalf of the

league, of the players that are going, havehadsecondthoughts,”TemplesaidSunday,describinghisownstateasa“nervousanx-iousness.”Weltman, theMagic’spresident, alsoac-

knowledgedthattheweightof“leavingyourfamiliesand leavingyour lovedonesbehindfor sucha longperiodof time”hadbeen feltmore acutely throughout his organizationover“the last fewdays.”Said Tilman Fertitta, the owner of the

HoustonRockets,inaninterviewwithCNBC:“If it everbecomesunhealthy, I promiseyou—theplayers,theownersandtheNBAofficetogetherwilldecidethis isn’t therightthing.Assoonasitbecomesdangerous,Icanprom-iseyou,wewon’tdo it.” NYT

Teamsbeganarrivingat theESPNWideWorldof SportsComplexatDisneyWorldonTuesday. ;(Belowleft)TroyDanielsof theDenverNuggetspostedapictureofhismealonthesocialmedia.

ThosewhoarrivedTuesdaywerealmost immediatelytakentoatestingroom.Whileoncampus, theywillbetestedforthecoronavirusdaily,andmaskswillbemandatory inpublicwhenteamsareawayfrombasketballactivities.

SnowboardworldchampionPullindrownsindivingmishap

Two-timeworldsnowboardchampionandWinter Olympian Alex Pullin drownedWednesday while spearfishing onAustralia's Gold Coast. A police spokesper-sonsaida32-year-oldman, later identifiedas Pullin, was unresponsive when takenfrom thewater and died despite receivingCPR from lifeguards and emergency treat-ment from paramedics. The accident hap-penedatPalmBeacharound10:40a.m.localtime. Pullin had been diving on an artificialreef when he was found by a snorkeler."Anotherdiverwasoutthereandlocatedhimon the sea floor and raised the attention ofnearbysurferswhosoughtlifeguardstobringhim in," police said. "Hedidn't have an oxy-genmask.Weunderstandhewasfreedivingandspearfishingoutonthereef." AP

NovakDjokovichasaccusedcriticsof sub-jecting him to a “witch-hunt” after his re-gional Adria Tour tennis event ended in anovel coronavirus fiasco and said he wasstill uncertain whether he would play atthe Aug. 31-Sept 13 U.S. Open.Images andvideos of the players hugging at the net,playing basketball together and partyingat the tournament were posted on socialmedia.WorldnumberoneDjokovic, fellowSerb Viktor Troicki, Bulgarian Grigor

Dimitrov and Croatian Borna Coric alltested positive for the virus and the eventhad to be called off. Djokovic, who testedpositive forCOVID-19after theAdriaTour’ssecond leg inCroatia, pullednopunches inslamming his peers and punditswho saidhe was irresponsible to stage the eventamid the pandemic. “I can only see criti-cism lately and much of it is malicious,”Djokovic toldWednesday’s issueof Serbia’sdaily Sportski Zurnal. REUTERS

Djokovicupsetwith ‘witch-hunt’,yet to takecall onUSOpen

FernandoAlonsoreturning toF1next seasonwithRenault

FernandoAlonsowillreturntoFormulaOnenext season with the Renault team. TheFrenchmanufacturer said in a statementWednesdaythatthe38-year-oldAlonsowillreplace Daniel Ricciardo, who is joiningMcLarennextyear. “Fernando joinsRenault for theupcoming seasons,” Renaultsaid. “This decision is both bold andmean-ingful for the future.” Renault, which strug-gled inF1 last season,didnotsayhowmanyseasonsAlonsohas signed for.Hewonbothof hisworld titleswith Renault in 2005 and'06.HequitMcLarenandF1attheendof2018to focus on winning motorsport's triplecrown. Having alreadywon theMonacoGrand Prix, he thenwon the 24Hours of LeMans endurance race but not theIndianapolis500.. AP

DjokovicwithvolunteersandplayersduringtheAdriacharitytournament.AP

CROSSWORD4165

Across1. Becareful, the timekeeper’sincorrect (5,3)

5 Notconsideredadisfigurement (4)

9 Awishtobe incompany(5)

10 Apalindromeimmortalised(7)

11 Exemplarypieceof instruction(6,6)

13 Formstayeddisorganised(6)

14 Nowaytogothroughacongestedarea(6)

17 Anoverdrawnaccount(12)

20 Titanicdestroyer (7)21 Itmaybeusedto lift anobstruction(5)

22 Oldacquaintance(4)

23 Emphasisedcoursesneedtobereversed(8)

Down1 Put in thepaper (4)2 Novel role,butgivingdifficulty(7)

3 Whatpost-graduateswork for,toagreaterextent?(6,6)

4 Moderniseaquietduet,perhaps (6)

6 Anothernameforacriminal(5)

7 ThetroubleaboutaSpaniard isheputspleasurebeforework(8)

8 Wheretoobtainhorses foracharge(6,6)

12 Starstrikesanewpose(8)

15 Aroomredesignedbyus isromantic(7)

16 It’s clear there’sanote tocorrect(6)

18 Afactor inshowbusiness (4)

ARIES(Mar21-Apr20)Themainpre-occupationover thecurrent timeispersonalcreativity.

Youneedtoexpressyourdeeplyuniquetalents, andyourmainstrategyshouldprobablynowbetogobackand lookatthewaythingsweredone in thepast.You’lluncovercluesas towhatyoushoulddo inthepresent.

TAURUS(Apr21-May21)Itmaybe irritatingto be tied towhatfriends have inmind, but unless

youwant to be ahermit youwill have to accept thatothers's feelingsmust comefirst. In love, you shouldabandonunrealisticexpectations ofwhat romanceshould or shouldn't be about.

GEMINI (May22- June21)Domesticrelationshipsshouldbeworkedat.There'snopoint inblaming

otherpeoplebecausesuch-and-suchathingmayhavegonewrong,orbecauseyoumaynothavegotyourway.Thepast is thepast, andthefuturemustbetackledwithhopeandcourage.

CANCER(June22- July23)Youwillbeunwillingtoperformanytaskwhichdoesn’t suityourpersonal

wishesand interests.Youmaythereforebeareluctantemployeeunless those inauthorityentrustyouwithtaxingand interestingresponsibilities. It'spartlyuptoyou,butalsoupto them.

LEO(July24-Aug23)Homeand familyaffairs reallymusttake first place inyour list of

emotional priorities. Takesome timeout to try andunderstandwhat has beentroubling relations, andoffer themwhatevermoralsupport is required. Youmightdobest to keep your doubtsto yourself.

VIRGO(Aug24-Sept23)If you'rewonderingwhereall thegoodluckhasgone,holdonfor justa little

while longer. Itmightbethatpartnersareduetohavefirstbiteof thecherry.Andwhileyou'remakingplansfor the future,understandthatthebest tocomeoutof thepresent timewillbeenhancedself-knowledge.

LIBRA(Sept24-Oct23)Youoften feelundervaluedandtakenforgranted,sometimeswith

goodreason.Yet,nowcouldbetheperfect timetoturnthetablesonpartnersandmakethemseethatyouare tobetakenseriously, andthatyourfeelingsarewortheverybitasmuchas theirs.

SCORPIO(Oct24-Nov22)You'restill in thedrivingseat, soyoushouldgainpersonally from

muchofwhat isgoingon.However,when life ismovingyourwayyoushouldmakeadeterminedeffort to lookafterotherpeople's interestsaswellasyourown.They'll returnthefavourwhenthepositionis reversed.

SAGITTARIUS(Nov23-Dec22)Amystery of sortsshould soonbeclearedup, butthe answermay lie

within rather thanwithout. Inotherwords, because ofyour ownpreconceptions,youhavemisinterpretedsomeone else's intentions.Your vivid imaginationmaybe to blame, rather thanawkward circumstances.

CAPRICORN(Dec23- Jan20)Agreatdealdependsonhowyougetonwithotherpeople,evenatwork.

Emotionalundercurrentsandbeliefscount forverymuchmorethanthe facts.Even inbusiness,partnersseemtobeinfluencedbythewaythingsoncewere, rather thanthewaytheyarenow.

AQUARIUS(Jan21-Feb19)It'snouse imaginingthatyou'renotambitious. If youdogivewayto false

humility thenyou'lldoubtlessmissoutonamajoropportunity.Pushyourselfforwardandyoumayopenthewaytoemotional fulfilment,togetherwithapplauseandacclaimfromyourpeers.

PISCES(Feb.20-Mar20)Sometimes it'sanadvantagebeingadreamer,butnotalways.Your

heart'sdesire liesa longwayoff-ordoes it?Onethingyouhavetosortout isyourcontinualtendencyto imaginethat thegrass isalwaysgreenersomewhereelse.Try tolive in thehereandnowforonce.

SUDOKU4164

DifficultyLevel2sInstructionsTosolveaSudokupuzzle,everydigitfrom1to9mustappear ineachofthenineverticalcolumns, ineachoftheninehorizontalrowsandineachofthenineboxes.

DifficultyLevel1s=Veryeasy;2s=Easy;3s=Medium;4s=Hard;5s=VeryHard;6s=Genius S

OLU

TIONSUDOKU4163

Givenbelowarefour jumbledwords.Solvethejumblestomakeproperwordsandmovethemtotherespectivesquaresbelow.Selecttheletters intheshadedsquaresandjumblethemtogettheanswerforthegivenquip.ThewayIseeit, ifyouwantthe____,you’vegottoputupwiththe__.-DollyParton(7,..,4)

SOLUTION:LARVA,PRIOR,UNKIND,WOBBLYAnswer:ThewayIseeit,ifyouwanttherainbow,you’vegottoputupwiththerain.-DollyParton

LVAAR NUDNIK

ORPRI BLOYBW

SolutionsCrossword4164:Across:1Fancy-free,8Repel,9Regular,10Scarce,11Easter,12Armsrace,15Reporter,18Reaper,20Wealth,21Bathing,22Rider,23Eccentric.Down:2Arena,3Counts,4Flagrant,5Erects,6Spartan,7Bluepeter,11Extrawork,13Marriage,14Upwards,16Retire,17Sachet,19Ennui.

JUMBLEDWORDS

OVERTHEHEDGE byMichael Fry&TLewis

CALVIN&HOBBES byBillWatterson

MARVIN byTomArmstrong

DAYTODAY BYPETERVIDAL

Jaipur